In a weird turn of events, Kenneth Bae thanked former NBA player and current weirdo Dennis Rodman for hastening his release from a North Korean jail, where he was held for over two years.
Bae said on Monday that Rodman’s bizarre rant in January 2014 to CNN’s Chris Cuomo, when he expressed his love for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and suggested that Bae had done something wrong, which he hadn’t, brought massive exposure to his captivity.
“I want to thank Dennis Rodman for being a catalyst for my release,” Kenneth Bae said in an interview with CNN. “It all together worked out for good for my release … I’m grateful.”
North Korea convicted Bae, a South Korean-born American citizen and Evangelical Christian Missionary, for plotting to topple the North Korean government. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
Bae also owned a Chinese Tour company, ”Nations Tour,” which hosted tours of North Korea. CNN reported that Bae, who had led some 15 tours in North Korea, may have been carrying prohibited material, either a Bible or other type of religious literature.
His public appearance Monday on “New Day,” when he thanked Rodman for bringing attention to his ordeal, was Bae’s first since leaving the North Korean prison in November 2014.
Rodman later apologized for his strange comments in the interview with Cuomo, claiming that he had been drinking at the time.