Dennis Rodman: NKorea leader wants Obama to call

3/3/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday.

WASHINGTON — Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doesn't want war with the United States. He just wants President Obama to call him.

Rodman, the highest-profile American to meet Kim since Kim took power in December 2011, says Obama and Kim share a love of basketball, so “let's start there.”

Rodman is just back from a visit to North Korea with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and spent two days with Kim.

The State Department on Friday distanced itself from Rodman's visit.

The trip took place amid strained ties between the U.S. and North Korea over the North's recent underground nuclear test.

Rodman spoke on ABC's “This Week.”