Retired basketball star Dennis Rodman called his latest trip to North Korea “really good” upon his return on Saturday.
“Everybody’s going to be happy. It was a good day. It was a good trip. A really good trip,” Rodman told reporters at Beijing’s airport, Reuters reported. Rodman did not provide additional details.
Rodman has previously traveled to North Korea and met with its leader, Kim Jong Un, but it’s unclear whether Rodman met with the dictator this time around. However, he reportedly brought President Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal” as a gift for the leader. Rodman’s previous interaction with the country’s dictator includes calling him Kim Jong Un his “best friend.”
Asked by media whether he met with Kim Jong Un, Rodman replied, “You’ll find out.”
The former Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls champion’s visit to the country coincided with the release of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was arrested and imprisoned by North Korea last year after he allegedly stole a propaganda poster from his hotel.
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Warmbier arrived home this week, but has suffered brain damage that North Korea attributed to an outbreak of botulism. Doctors in Pennsylvania refuted the claim, saying they had found no traces of botulism in Warmbier’s system. He has been in a coma-like state since March of last year, but his parents say they were only just notified.
“He is in a coma and we have been told he has been in that condition since March of 2016. We learned of this only one week ago,” Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement to CNN.
Rodman refused to comment to reporters on whether he influenced the country to release Warmbier during his visit.
In 2015, Rodman’s visits were captured by the documentary “Big Bang in Pyongyang,” which features Rodman teaching basketball to North Korean players and singing “Happy Birthday” to Kim Jong Un.