Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is expected to arrive in North Korea today, marking his fourth visit to the country.
North Korea on Tuesday released an American student imprisoned there and sentenced to hard labor, the State Department announced. Ripley also reported that State Department officials were caught off guard Tuesday morning by news of Rodman's travels and called it a "strange coincidence" with talks to free Wambier. "Thanks to my sponsor www.potcoin.com".
A White House official says the May meeting in Oslo was attended by Joseph Yun, the US envoy to North Korea.
At the direction of the President, the Department of State has secured the release of Otto Warmbier from North Korea.
Doubtless Donald Trump will take personal credit for this on twitter or in some fucking press conference, so enjoy the few minutes before he does, where we can just think about the fact that a brutalized 23-year-old kid returned home today. "They realized the importance of this trip and made it all possible for me".
"I'm just trying to open the door", the eccentric ex-Chicago Bulls power forward told reporters at Beijing airport before boarding his Air Koryo flight.
Rodman, in an interview with CNN before landing in North Korea, said he was "trying to accomplish something we both need", referring to himself and the Trump administration.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing before his arrival in Pyongyang on Tuesday, he said that the issue of several Americans detained by North Korea is "not my objective right now".
Thomas Shannon, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, told reporters in Tokyo that Rodman was traveling to North Korea as a private citizen. He has visited several times before. However, he does not plan to discuss detained Americans at the time, he added.
Parents say U.S. student released from North Korea is in coma
There is an internet urban legend that North Korea is a pothead paradise and maybe even the next Amsterdam of pot tourism. He says in a statement that the State Department secured Warmbier's release at the direction of President Donald Trump .
He was wearing sunglasses in a black T-shirt as he walked through media cameras and headed to a first-class lounge.
He noted that the North Koreans had refused to let Swedish officials - America's diplomatic intermediaries in that country - visit or contact Otto for more than a year.
On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called North Korea's improving missile and nuclear programs the "most urgent" threat to national security.
Rodman is being accompanied by a small entourage: his agent, Chris Volo, and Joe Terwilliger, a geneticist who has taught in Pyongyang and who has said he serves as Rodman's translator.
A U.S. national security spokesman, Michael Anton, told CNN there is no connection between Rodman's visit and Warmbier's release.
Sullivan released a statement Tuesday afternoon to express the school's support for Warmbier and his family.
Mr Rodman endorsed Mr Trump's presidential campaign.
Rodman appeared Trump's "The Apprentice" show, and the pair have had an up-and-down relationship.
Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman, left, gestures to photographers as he prepares to go through immigration at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, Tuesday, June 13, 2017.
Comments