[Novo]

Retired US basketball player Dennis Rodman is heading to North Korea for a five-day visit, where he will train the national basketball team.

Mr Rodman has previously described his visits as "basketball diplomacy", and called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un his "friend for life".

The US State Department has stressed that Mr Rodman is not representing the US government on this trip.

The visit comes a week after Mr Kim's uncle Chang Song-thaek was executed.

Analysts described Mr Chang's purge as the biggest political shake-up since the death of former ruler Kim Jong-il two years ago.

Speaking to reporters in Beijing before heading to North Korea, Mr Rodman said politics had "nothing to do with [him]".

"I mean, whatever his uncle has done, and whoever's done anything in North Korea, I have no control over that. I mean, these things have been going on for years and years and years," he told Reuters news agency.

"I'm just going over there to do a basketball game and have some fun," he added.

Organisers of the trip say that Mr Rodman will also arrange a friendship basketball match between North Korea and a group of former NBA players on 8 January, to mark Mr Kim's birthday.

Mr Rodman remains the most high-profile American to meet Kim Jong-un since the leader took over after his father died in 2011.

He said that he spent time with Mr Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju during his last visit in September, and said Mr Kim had a baby daughter called Ju-ae.

'Brutal regime'
US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Tuesday: "Dennis Rodman is not a representative of the US government in his trip to North Korea."

"We need to focus on what's really important here when it comes to North Korea... the brutality of the North Korean regime he's going to meet."

American Kenneth Bae (known in North Korea as Pae Jun-ho) is detained in North Korea after being arrested in November 2012. He was sentenced to 15 years' hard labour in May.

Mr Rodman previously rejected calls to lobby for Mr Bae's release.

"That's not my job to ask about Kenneth Bae,'' he told reporters after his September visit.




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