In the course of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, former basketball star Dennis Rodman spoke about Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. Rodman said that Kim was like a kid who was not in favor of any war. He also admitted that Kim was not like any other man, but people are misunderstanding him. To this, Colbert replied that Kim was an overgrown kid with nuclear weapons.

Daily Mail UK reports that, while introducing Rodman, the Late Show host referred to him as a five-time NBA champion and added that he could be in a position to prevent a thermonuclear war between America and Kim’s regime.

Dennis Rodman fends for Kim

The present situation in the region is tense and volatile with relations between the United States, and North Korea strained to a breaking point. Fiery rhetoric is being shot from both sides, and at the beginning of December, Pyongyang went to the extent of saying that the US is 'begging for war.' However, Dennis Rodman insisted that such a line of thinking is not correct.

Rodman has visited the country five times since 2015. During one of their interactions, Kim Jong-un had indicated that he does not want any war. In fact, the former NBA star feels he could play an important role to bring normalcy to the Korean peninsula by opening up channels of communication between the United States and North Korea which could be productive.

He was keen to undertake a sixth visit but was disappointed when United States officials advised him against it saying that it was 'not a good time' for such a tour.

Incidentally, he went to North Korea for the first time on February 26, 2013, to host basketball exhibitions, it was there that Rodman became the first known American to have met the leader.

Rodman has been back to North Korea on four other occasions to meet with Kim Jong-un. The two of them have watched several basketball games together, and Rodman even sang "happy birthday” to Kim on one occasion. Obviously, there is a bond between the two which could help normalize relations between the two countries who currently are at odds.

Rodman’s visits to North Korea

According to USA Today, the NBA star knows both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un who he refers to as ‘the Marshal.” In Rodman’s opinion, both of them have a lot in common because they love control. He feels the possibility of Trump and Kim engaging in a brief conversation across the table from each other should not be completely ruled out.
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