Dennis Rodman is preparing to thrill North Korean fans during an exhibition basketball tour there late next month.
Though he ducked questions 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.
"I have seven people right now," Rodman said.
"I talked to a couple of guys last week. Lot of guys are saying, 'OK, great. I'll go. We'll go.' But I'm not saying this to get people to go over there to prove a point.
"Let's go over there because this is a great opportunity for everyone to see a different culture. ... 'This country is so bad. This city is so bad.' OK, great, come see it and tell the world when you come back, 'Hey, it's not as bad as you think.' And that's why I'm taking NBA players over there.
"To show them, so they can come back and talk about it."
Back in the news as a self-appointed ambassador and friend of Kim, Rodman returned on 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 US citizens as hostages, including 85-year-old Korean War veteran Merrill Newman.
The Swedish Embassy is negotiating on behalf of Newman because the US 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 US President Barack Obama.
Rodman said his reasons for returning were much more personal and beyond that, Kim's motives were not his concern.
Rodman began his NBA career with the Detroit Pistons in 1986.
It ended in 2000, after failed attempts to catch on with both the Lakers and Mavericks.
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