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Former NBA player Dennis Rodman has given North Korea's Sports Minister a copy of US President Donald Trump's book The Art of the Deal as a gift intended for the country's leader, Kim Jong-un.
Key points:
- Rodman's gifts to Kim Jong-un also include soap, puzzles and autographed jerseys
- Donald Trump was Rodman's boss for two seasons of Celebrity Apprentice
- Rodman insists his trip has nothing to do with the White House
While Mr Trump was Rodman's boss for two seasons of the Celebrity Apprentice reality TV show, the book was not signed by the President.
Rodman arrived in North Korea on Tuesday and said the visit — his fourth to the country — had nothing to do with the White House.
Before flying from China to North Korea, he told reporters he was "just trying to open a door" with North Korea and was travelling as a private citizen.
Praise for athletes
Rodman and his small entourage have been spending time with young North Korean basketball players and visiting local sights.
He watched a North Korean men's basketball team and met Sports Minister Kim Il-guk.
Along with Mr Trump's book, other gifts he presented for Kim Jong-un included a copy of Where's Waldo? The Totally Essential Travel Collection, a mermaid puzzle, two sets of soap and two autographed jerseys.
Rodman also met North Korean Olympic athletes, including judo gold medallist An Kum-ae.
"All of you guys should be proud of yourselves, because, you know, a lot of people don't give you guys credit, because this is such a small country, and not many people from North Korea can compete around the world," Rodman said.
"But for you guys to come back here in your country, with a medal, that says a lot about North Korea, because people don't really take North Korea so seriously about sports or anything like that."
Rodman, one of the only Westerners to have personally met Mr Kim, was criticised for a prior trip where he sang Happy Birthday to Mr Kim and suggested an American missionary was at fault for his own imprisonment in North Korea — remarks for which he later apologised.
But the Sports Minister made clear that Rodman was viewed fondly in Pyongyang.
"In the past, our respected supreme leader met you several times and he used his precious time to watch the basketball match with the players you brought here," Kim Il-guk told Rodman.
"In the past he met you, so our people all know you well. And also we feel that you are an old friend."
Officials deny Rodman had role in Warmbier release
Rodman's arrival on Tuesday came just hours after the North decided to release Otto Warmbier, an American university student who had been imprisoned for 15 years with hard labour for trying to steal a propaganda banner.
Mr Warmbier, who had been confined for 17 months, apparently fell into a coma not long after his confinement began, and Pyongyang issued a statement on Thursday saying it decided to let him go for "humanitarian reasons".
Officials in Washington and Pyongyang said Rodman played no role in the release.
AP
Topics: offbeat, world-politics, donald-trump, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of, united-states, asia