On Friday, former basketball star Dennis Rodman gave an interview in which he implied his trip to North Korea played a part in securing the release of American hostage Otto Warmbier, despite statements to the contrary from the U.S. government and the Warmbier family.
“I was just so happy to see the kid released,” Rodman told ABC’s Good Morning America. “Later that day, that’s when we found out he was ill, no one knew that. We jumped up and down.”
He repeated later that he did not know Warmbier was “sick” and offered “all prayer and love” to the family. Warmbier turned out to have been comatose for over a year, a condition kept secret by the regime in Pyongyang, and died soon after his release.
“Some good things came of this trip,” Rodman added.
Rodman’s agent, Chris Volo, backed up this claim by saying he asked the North Korean regime “on behalf of Dennis” for Warmbier’s release three times.
“I know being there had something to do with it. Because when I was organizing the trip… and I meet with the delegates here, you know, I addressed… Otto Warmbier. And I said to them, ‘we… would need his… you know, a release, some type of good faith, if we’re ever going to do some type of future sports relations… They said they understood,” said Volo.
Both the U.S. State Department and Otto Warmbier’s family have stated firmly that Rodman had nothing to do with the decision to release him.
In another passage of his Good Morning America interview, Rodman spoke highly of North Korea and its dictator, Kim Jong-un. He insisted North Korea has become “modernized” and “civilized” under Kim, to the delight of its “happy” people.
Rodman said outsiders don’t see the “good side” of North Korea.
“It’s like going, like, to Asia. It’s like going to like Istanbul, Turkey, or any place like that. It’s pretty much just like that. You know, you going to see some poverty. You’re going to see some people that’s not doing too well,” he said.
Rodman reported he was unable to meet with Kim personally on this visit, but hoped to do so on his next trip, tentatively scheduled for August. He said he conveyed a message from Kim to President Barack Obama (“I would love him if he can move his ships away a little bit”) and hoped to perform the same messaging service between Kim and President Trump. He also invited President Trump to come along on his next trip to Pyongyang to “work this out.”
Meanwhile, North Korea was angrily insisting it treated Otto Warmbier fairly and dismissing accusations to the contrary as slander.
“Our relevant agencies treat all criminals who committed crimes against (our) republic strictly based on domestic law and international standards, and Warmbier was no different,” declared North Korea’s National Reconciliation Council, as quoted by Sky News.
The Council insisted Warmbier received “humanitarian” treatment while in custody and accused South Korea of “slanderous talk about cruel treatment and torture.”
“The fact that Warmbier died suddenly in less than a week just after his return to the US in his normal state of health is a mystery to us as well,” said the North Korean Foreign Ministry, which declared Pyongyang is clearly the “biggest victim” in the affair.
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