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| Dennis Rodman leads team to North Korea for match | Dennis Rodman leads team to North Korea for match |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman has arrived in North Korea along with a team for a match marking leader Kim Jong-un's birthday. | Retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman has arrived in North Korea along with a team for a match marking leader Kim Jong-un's birthday. |
| Rodman and the team of former US National Basketball Association (NBA) players flew from Beijing on Monday ahead of Wednesday's match. | Rodman and the team of former US National Basketball Association (NBA) players flew from Beijing on Monday ahead of Wednesday's match. |
| Rodman, who says he is friends with the young North Korean leader, said his aim was to "connect two countries". | Rodman, who says he is friends with the young North Korean leader, said his aim was to "connect two countries". |
| State Department officials have made it clear Rodman does not represent the US. | State Department officials have made it clear Rodman does not represent the US. |
| The sportsman has also been strongly criticised for ignoring North Korea's human rights abuses. | The sportsman has also been strongly criticised for ignoring North Korea's human rights abuses. |
| Dennis Rodman last visited North Korea in December, shortly after the execution of Chang Song-thaek. | Dennis Rodman last visited North Korea in December, shortly after the execution of Chang Song-thaek. |
| The fall of Kim Jong-un's once-powerful uncle was seen as a major shake-up at the very top of Pyongyang's elite. | The fall of Kim Jong-un's once-powerful uncle was seen as a major shake-up at the very top of Pyongyang's elite. |
| On that visit, Rodman's third, he did not meet Mr Kim, who is reported to be a basketball fan. He has met the young leader on his other two previous visits, however, and is the highest-profile American to have done so. | |
| This time, he leads a squad of players on a trip he is describing as "basketball diplomacy". The squad will play a North Korean team in an exhibition match. | This time, he leads a squad of players on a trip he is describing as "basketball diplomacy". The squad will play a North Korean team in an exhibition match. |
| Rodman's unprecedented access to North Korea's young leader has drawn questions over the impact of his visits to a country criticised for its repressive system of brutal political prison camps. | |
| If Rodman will not talk about that, many say it is hard to know what basketball diplomacy can really achieve, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul reports. | |
| The basketball player's visit comes amid ongoing international concern over stability inside North Korea following the sudden execution of Chang, who was seen as a major leadership figure. | |
| In a New Year's address on Monday, South Korean leader Park Geun-hye called the situation on the Korean peninsula "more grave than ever". | In a New Year's address on Monday, South Korean leader Park Geun-hye called the situation on the Korean peninsula "more grave than ever". |
| The execution had "made it harder to predict" what might happen, she said. | The execution had "made it harder to predict" what might happen, she said. |
| She called for dialogue between the two nations and for a reunion meeting for families separated by the division of the Korean peninsula at the end of the Korean War in 1953. | |
| The first such meeting in three years was scheduled but then cancelled by the North Korean side in September last year. | The first such meeting in three years was scheduled but then cancelled by the North Korean side in September last year. |