Former NBA player Dennis Rodman arrives in North Korea

Warmbier was flown out of North Korea on the same day that Dennis Rodman, the controversial basketball star, arrived for his fifth visit in Pyongyang.

After returning to the U.S., Rodman told ESPN that he would not return to North Korea if people didn’t want him to. He’s likely to face similar accusations now: His visit comes amid global condemnation over North Korea’s accelerating efforts to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, which poses one of the toughest foreign policy challenges for U.S. President Donald Trump.

It posted a statement on its website touting its association with the “historic trip”, saying Rodman is in “the very rare position to be able to claim long-time friendships” with both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump.

Rodman appeared twice on Trump’s pre-presidency “Celebrity Apprentice” show and praised the future president on Twitter during last year’s election campaign.

Multiple people involved in unofficial talks with North Korea say that the Trump administration has been making overtures toward the Kim regime, including trying to set up a secret back channel to the North Korean leader using “an associate of Trump’s” rather than the usual line-up of North Korea experts and former officials who talk to Pyongyang’s representatives.

As co-host, North Korea would get an automatic bid to the tournament.

He was met by North Korean Vice Minister of Sports Son Kwang Ho.

“We are aware of his visit”.

North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government to enable the USA -backed South Korean government to control the Korean Peninsula.

The Stalinist regime rarely engages Americans, and Rodman’s personal relationship with “Supreme Leader” Kim makes him a valuable asset when it comes to painting a fuller picture of the US adversary’s profile. The basketball player has been dropping hints that his visit as a objective that goes beyond a social call to his good friend, the insane tyrant of North Korea who has people killed by firing antiaircraft guns at them.

Americans are regarded as enemies in North Korea because the two countries never signed a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.

Rodman, who won national titles with both the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, has visited North Korea several times, including for a birthday celebration in 2014 in which he played basketball. Rodman has said he practices “basketball diplomacy”; it’s not clear whether he spoke on Warmbier’s behalf.

NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman told CNN he was hoping to do “something that’s pretty positive”, before he boarded a plane bound for North Korea.

Although at one point he did tweet Mr Kim to ask if he would “do me a solid and let Kenneth Bae loose” – referring to a US-Korean missionary who served two years of a 15-year jail term for trying to overthrow the government.

A North Korean foreign ministry official said Warmbier was released and left the country Tuesday morning.