With news of NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman planning to take another trip to North Korea, the former Chicago Bulls star announced Monday that in the wake of his trip, the FBI wants to use him as an informant.
"I have been contacted by the FBI and I met with them. They wanted to know what went on and who's really in charge in North Korea," Rodman told the Miami Herald. "I have been invited back to North Korea in August and I want to go."
It's been speculated that Rodman was being used and manipulated by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but he claims that's not the case.
"I'm not a total idiot. I know what Kim Jong Un is threatening to do regarding his military muscle. I hope it doesn't happen because America will take whatever actions to protect America and our allies.
"I do think that we have to talk to people who want to cause us harm so hopefully they won't. I've been talking to folks for years who don't get what I'm about, but that's cool, 'cause once they walk away they like me. I might be able to keep folks' heads cool. We all going to find a way to get along and keep peace."
In his first trip to North Korea, Rodman accompanied the Harlem Globetrotters players and some reporters back in February, a visit that was endorsed by the U.S. State Department. The trip didn't win much support of his fans, but the icing on the cake came when Rodman spoke candidly about the young leader calling Kim a "great guy."
Rodman attempted to portray Kim as misguided young man with good intentions who's desperate to remove the shadow casted upon him by his late father's legacy, Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011.
"He's not his dad. Not his grandpa. He's 28 years old," Rodman said, adding that even though he doesn't condone Kim's litany of abuses - which include the mass imprisonment of some 200,000 citizens in forced labor camps and widespread, government-induced food shortages - he's not passing judgment. After all, didn't Bill Clinton sleep with his "secretary"?
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