Blaine Shores

Former NBA Rebound Champion Dennis Rodman is looking into his friendship with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un to request the release of a Korean-American man, the Associated Press reports.

“I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea, or as I call him ‘Kim’, to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose,” Rodman said on Twitter.

Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for unspecified “hostile acts” against the country. The country said that the 44-year-old man entered North Korea under an alias.

Rodman called his tweet a direct response to a Seattle newspaper editorial that dared him to ask for the release since the two were close friends. Rodman also visited North Korea in February and sat with Kim at an exhibition basketball game at a time of high stakes between North Korea and the United States. The U.S. State department did not endorse the trip.

North Korea has not described the nature of Bae’s crimes. Political analysts have said that North Korea may be using Bae as bait to open negotiations with the United States over its nuclear arms program. Korea has said he is not a negotiating chip.

The U.S. and North Korea do not have formal diplomatic relations after the Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. The U.S. has called for the North to release Bae immediately.

Rodman said after his February trip to North Korea that he has plans to return to the country in August to vacation with Kim who is a die-hard basketball fan.

Photo Credit:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20130304/dennis-rodman-north-korea/