Photo Credit: Timothy Clary/AFP/Getty Images
It seems Dennis Rodman finally understands why everyone was up in arms when he announced that he was going to North Korea to see his “friend” dictator Kim Jong Un. After spending time in rehab to deal with his drinking problem, Rodman sat down for an interview with ESPN.
When asked about his decision to go, the former NBA power forward said, “If I put anyone in harm’s way, I apologize, you know. If you don’t want me to go back there ever again, I won’t go back.”
While on his trip, Rodman was videoed singing Happy Birthday to Un and got into an argument with Chris Cuomo on CNN. Cuomo had asked Rodman about imprisoned Korean-American Kenneth Bae to which Rodman somewhat defended the dictator’s decision to throw Bae in prison.
Rodman said that most people were angered by his comments about Bae. “The one thing people took out of context, was it’s the way you said ‘do you know what he did, do you know what he did? know what he did?’ I said ‘no, do you know what he did?’ I didn’t know what the hell he did,” he said.
Rodman may have thought his intentions were good by going to North Korea, but he is alone in thinking that. His trip is now being investigated by the UN to see is any sanctions were broken. The UN will look to see if Rodman received any luxurious gifts while on this trip; Rodman and the other former players allegedly walked away with several bottles of alcohol. It is good to see that Rodman realizes his trips were not his best idea and hopefully he can remain sober and will never try again to create diplomacy with any other nations.
