httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSH0yTWNHHE
Updated at 10:22 a.m. ET. Former NBA player Dennis Rodman is now in North Korea, returning to the isolated nation to try to “Open a door” with leader Kim Jong Un, he told reporters before his flight departed from Beijing on Tuesday.
“I’m back!” Rodman said on Twitter, announcing his trip.
Speaking to journalists and wearing a T-shirt for his sponsor, the marijuana banking service PotCoin.com, Rodman said he thinks President Trump is pleased with his visit to North Korea.
“Rodman is in the unusual position of being an acquaintance of both President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,” NPR’s Rob Schmitz reports from Shanghai.
While the U.S. is aware of the current visit, Rodman is acting as a private citizen.
Rodman is being accompanied by a small entourage: his agent, Chris Volo, and Joe Terwilliger, a geneticist who has taught in Pyongyang and who has said he serves as Rodman’s translator.
Rodman, who won national titles with both the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, has visited North Korea several times, including for a birthday celebration in 2014 in which he played basketball.