Dennis Rodman has praised President Trump for his decision to meet Kim Jong-un.
The former NBA star, who has previously said that the President and Kim are ‘pretty much the same people’, called it a ‘historical meeting’.
The ex-Chicago Bulls power forward said he looks forward to returning to North Korea for ‘basketball diplomacy’ in the coming months.
Friends: Former NBA player Dennis Rodman praised Donald Trump for agreeing to meet with his friend, dictator Kim Jong-Un
He said: ‘Well done, President Trump. You’re on the way to a historical meeting no U.S. president has ever done.’
‘Please send my regards to Marshal Kim Jong Un and his family.’
Rodman – who has swigged vodka with Kim and been fired by Trump on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ – has travelled to North Korea to meet the despot five times.
In an interview in December last year, the 56-year-old said he believes the two unpredictable leaders ‘are pretty much the same people’.
Buddies: Rodman has travelled to North Korea as a guest of Kim – who is a huge basketball fan – several times, and is here seen during a dinner with the dictator in 2013
‘They love control,’ Rodman said, adding that warnings of nuclear peril are harmless ‘entertainment’.
‘Ain’t nobody got no finger on the button.’
The announcement that President Trump had accepted the invitation came from the South Korean official who led the delegation to Pyongyang this week.
South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong informed U.S. press of the expected in-person conversation, and said the goal of the unprecedented meeting between the two countries’ leaders is permanent denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Chung did not say where the meeting would take place.
South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong (L) meeting US President Donald J. Trump (R) at the White House in Washington, DC, USA
Peace move: Kim Jong Un held face to face talks with South Korea’s delegation this week – and has passed a message to Trump offering to meet
A half hour after the foreign official announced the meeting, steps from the West Wing, the White House confirmed Trump’s participation.
A statement from White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the place and time of the meeting was still being worked out.
‘President Trump greatly appreciates the nice words of the South Korean delegation and President Moon. He will accept the invitation to meet with Kim Jong Un at a place and time to be determined,’ Sanders said.
‘We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea. In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain.’