North Korea expecting visit from former NBAer Dennis Rodman

After the game, the VICE crew and the players were rushed across Pyongyang unexpectedly for a dinner with Kim and other members of North Korea's government.

"I'm sorry for what's going on in North Korea, the certain situations", Rodman told CNN in 2014, but he did not elaborate what those "situations" were.

Retired U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman is surrounded by journalists upon his arrival from North Korea's Pyongyang at Beijing Capital International Airport January 13, 2014. The 56-year-old replied: "Well, I'm pretty sure he's [the president] pretty much happy with the fact that I'm over here trying to accomplish something that we both need".

What that is exactly is unclear but at Beijing's airport on Monday and Tuesday, Rodman was wearing a black T-shirt with the logo of Potcoin - a digital currency for the cannabis industry, according to its website. It seems unlikely that what this worldwide crisis needed was a little loving from Dennis Rodman, but that might be what we're about to get. "Thanks to my sponsor".

It would be the fifth visit by Rodman since February 2013 when he first visited the North in what could be seen as "basketball diplomacy". Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong of Gwangju, president of the Korean Bishops Conference, said: "I hope the Vatican can act as a mediator".

The colourful sportsman sang Happy Birthday to the leader, but his side were defeated by the North Koreans.

His trip came amid mounting tensions between the US and the North over Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear and missile programs.

The 2014 trip generated a string of negative headlines and an outburst from Rodman during the CNN interview.

The event soon became overshadowed by politics after Rodman suffered an angry meltdown on CNN before the game when asked whether during the trip he would raise the issue of Kenneth Bae, an American missionary who was detained in North Korea at the time on charges of "anti-state crimes".

Do reportedly "bribed Kim with money and goods" and deceived him with false information about North Korea and "anti-state propaganda". A North Korean diplomat at the United Nations disputed this, saying that Rodman had not been invited by the foreign ministry but by a sports-related agency. In April, Trump dispatched the USS Carl Vinson strike group to the Korean peninsular and subsequently warned of a possible "major, major conflict" with North Korea. North Korea has already launched several missiles in 2017 - most recently firing four anti-ship cruise missiles that each flew about 124 miles.

"In a dictatorship no one can trust anyone, even with the extraordinary powers that Kim has", says Pinkston.

During a check of Kim's belongings, police found four bundles of US currency, mostly in mint condition, in a black bag.

The North has occasionally jailed U.S. citizens on charges ranging from hostile acts to illegal entry, and released them only after visits by high-profile figures including former president Bill Clinton. The 56-year-old New Jersey native, who helped win two National Basketball Association championships for the Detroit Pistons and three for the Chicago Bulls, is one of a tiny number of Americans to have met Kim and calls the dictator a "friend for life". On the court he was known for his ferocious defense and rebounding ability. But efforts to convince North Korea to release the men now held have not been successful so far.

People familiar with the basketballer's trip preparations said that Rodman was due to travel to Pyongyang last month but the trip was delayed. One source with inside knowledge of Rodman's previous trips told TIME the visits consisted of "one long party of boozing".

It is not clear whether Rodman, who once dated Madonna and was married to model and actress Carmen Electra, will be meeting with Kim Jong Un during the trip, or what the exact goal of the visit is.