Dennis Rodman lands in North Korea for basketball on Kim Jong-un\\\'s birthday

Former NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman has arrived in North Korea with a team of retired professional basketball players to mark the birthday of the country's leader Kim Jong-un.
This marks Rodman's fourth trip to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, where he and his team of fellow former National Basketball Association (NBA) stars will hold basketball games on Mr Kim's birthday, which is believed to fall on Wednesday, although it has never been officially confirmed.
On previous visits, Rodman spent time dining as a guest of Mr Kim, with whom he says he has a genuine friendship, though he did not meet Mr Kim on his third trip.
Although North Korean people suffer from the dire food and human rights situation, Kim Jong-un offers 'Rodman' sexual entertainment troupes and in return, receives expensive gifts for his family, which is a shameless act.
As the gifts listed below were offered as bribe during 'Rodman's visit to North Korea in December, 2013, it is expected that Rodman will offer more expensive gifts when he visits North Korea in January 2014 to mark the Kim, Jong-un's birthday(Jan 8).
crystal whisky set ($1,000), high-class whisky ($700), Italian hand-made suit ($3,000), luxury bag (U.K. Mulberry, $2,000), Woman's fur ($2,000), Italian hand-made girl's dress & hat set ($1,000)
Rodman, however, said he will not interfere in the country's politics.
"People always say that North Korea is like a really communist country, that people are not allowed to go there," Rodman said at the airport in Beijing.
"I just know the fact that, you know, to me (Kim Jong-un is) a nice guy.
"Whatever he does political-wise, that's not my job. I'm just an athlete, an individual who wants to go over there and play something for the world. That's it." Rodman says the visit is not about making money.
"It's one thing, it's trying to have a connection and open the doors, you know, for people to come here and say North Korea is not bad," he said.
"They are trying to change this country."
Rodman's latest visit follows the rare public purge of Mr Kim's powerful uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was executed in December.
South Korean president Park Geun-hye has described recent events in North Korea as a "reign of terror".
The purging of Jang, considered the second most powerful man in the north, was widely seen as a sign of factionalism within the secretive government.
The visit also comes as the United States government tries to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American who worked as a Christian missionary before his arrest by North Korea and conviction in May on charges of crimes against the state.
N Korea defectors slam basketball visit
Rodman has faced both ridicule and harsh criticism from some quarters for his trips, which some US politicians and activists view as serving only as fodder for propaganda efforts by the North Korean regime.
"It's a cruel joke," said Eliot Engel, a high-ranking minority member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"There has to be some modicum of behaviour before you sit down with people.
"The people of North Korea are suffering and we're offering them basketball."
Mr Engel was joined by several North Koreans who have fled the country for political asylum in the US at a press conference in New York, which was organised by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human-rights group.
"I want to say to NBA player people, please don't make Kim Jong-un happy," said Jo Jinhye, an exiled North Korean who runs an organisation that helps fellow exiles.
"If you want to help North Korea, just help normal North Korean people, not North Korea's government or Kim Jong-un."
At the US State Department, spokeswoman Marie Harf said that Rodman had not contacted the government about his trip.
"He's not there as a representative of the US government trying to effect anything," Ms Harf said.
"We were not contacted by him and he's not there representing us."
She also repeated the US government's advice that Americans avoid traveling there.