Former NBA forward Dennis Rodman is back in North Korea Tuesday, where he plans to see leader Kim Jong-un, who he has called an "awesome" guy.
Rodman will spend five days in Pyongyang as part of a basketball diplomacy tour sponsored by an Internet gambling site called Paddy Power.
The hall of famer known as The Worm has made it clear he hadn't traveled to Pyongyang to convince Jong-un to free Kenneth Bae, an American currently being detained in a labor camp for allegedly plotting to overthrow Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Over the weekend, the North Korean government cancelled a meeting scheduled for a U.S. envoy to talk over Bae's potential release.
"I'm not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae," Rodman told Reuters from Beijing, where he waited for his connecting flight to Pyongyang.
"I just want to meet my friend Kim, the marshal, and start a basketball league over there," he said to the Associated Press. "I have not been promised anything. I am just going there as a friendly gesture."
Rodman previously visited the DPRK during a VICE documentary that followed his trip with the Harlem Globetrotters to Pyongyang.
During his travels, he was widely criticized for getting close to the North Korean government-one that has long-standing issues with the United States, and, until recently, threatened neighboring countries with use of nuclear weapons.
But since meeting Jong-un on that first trip to North Korea, Rodman has maintained that the Great Leader is a "friend," and a good man.
"I've come out here to see my friend," he said, speaking to the New York Times about Jong-un. "I want to talk about basketball."
Up until now, Rodman's insisted that he not only can persuade Kim Jong-un to release Kenneth Bae, but also that he deserves to join Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Dalai Lama as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
"If I don't finish in the top three for the next Nobel Peace Prize, something's seriously wrong," he told Sports Illustrated two months ago.
As recently as Frieday, The Worm said he'd work to free Bae. But he's changed courses at this point, and now says he'll be talking nothing but basketball with Jong-un, who is reportedly a huge sports fan.
Check out this interview with HuffPost Live, and fast forward to 14:50 to watch Rodman talk North Korea.
