Dennis Rodman is preparing to thrill North Korean fans during an exhibition

Dennis Rodman is preparing to thrill North Korean fans during an exhibition basketball tour there late next month.

Though he ducked questions in an interview with The Associated Press about whether his Christmas-time visit would be used for propaganda purposes by Kim Jong Un, the 29-year-old leader of one of the world’s most repressive regimes, Rodman said he’ll be accompanied on the trip by a dozen or so former NBA players. But he refused to name names.

Back in the news as a self-appointed ambassador and friend of Kim, Rodman returned Thursday to where he won the last three of his five NBA championships playing alongside Michael Jordan. On a promotional tour to pitch a vodka brand, Rodman, 52, held court downtown amid camera flashes.

Rodman said he wouldn’t talk about his relationship with Kim or North Korean politics, including its widely condemned human-rights record and secretive nuclear weapons program. Though he eventually touched on those subjects, Rodman glossed over several related questions and largely ignored a challenge to his answer about whether North Korea was holding U.S. citizens as hostages, including 85-year-old Korean War veteran Merrill Newman.

The Swedish Embassy is negotiating on behalf of Newman because the U.S. has no diplomatic ties to North Korea. Rodman’s friendship with Kim has afforded him the kind of access denied statesmen from the West and even U.S. President Barack Obama. Rodman came under criticism for being “naive” during a previous visit to North Korea, where he was photographed often with Kim, and some members of the diplomatic community fear his antics could further aggravate already-sensitive negotiations.

Rodman said his reasons for returning were much more personal and beyond that, Kim’s motives were not his concern.

Source AP