Dennis Rodman says North Korea's Kim Jong Un "wants peace"

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SHOWS: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DENNIS RODMAN, SAYING:

"It is kind of weird though, that I am one of the few people that know the two (Trump and Kim). You know, I'm an entertainer, a basketball player and stuff like that.

"It was funny people didn't want to have anything to do with North Korea seven years ago but now we are so engaged with North Korea. I think I have always said that it would be a positive thing if we do it in the right format and in the right direction. Donald Trump tried to do that last year in Singapore, I was there. I think that it could still work, I just think that we need to stay on the right path to make it work.

"So, I think that people should not give up on the U.S. trying to engage with North Korea in a good, safe manner.

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DENNIS RODMAN, SAYING:

"I think Kim Jong Un wants peace. I know him very well, I think he wants peace. I think the fact that people don't realize that he wants to move on into the 21st century. But I think, you know, everything else is in the way, in the way of everything with him. I think he doesn't want to give up his country, I don't blame him. I say hey Donald Trump wants to sit there and do certain things, great that's politicians."

STORY: Former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman, one of a handful of Westerners to have met North Korean head of state Kim Jong Un, and a friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Monday (September 9) he thought the two leaders could work out a deal.

"I think that it could still work. I just think that we need to stay on the right path to make it work," said Rodman, who was at the June 2018 Singapore summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump - the first between leaders of the two states who have been technically at war since the of the Korean War in 1953.

"So, I think that people should not give up on the U.S. trying to engage with North Korea in a good, safe manner," Rodman told Reuters television in an interview.

North Korea said on Monday it was willing to restart nuclear talks with the United States in late September, but warned that chances of a deal could end unless Washington takes a fresh approach.

"I think Kim Jong Un wants peace. I know him very well, I think he wants peace. I think ... people don't realize that he wants to move on into the 21st century. I think he doesn't want to give up his country. I don't blame him."

"But I think, you know, everything else is in the way," he said of the stalemated talks that would have North Korea dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions that have crippled its economy.

Rodman's earlier visits to North Korea included a basketball game he organized, an event chronicled in the documentary film "Big Bang in Pyongyang," which featured Rodman singing "Happy Birthday" to Kim, as well as scenes of inebriated and erratic behavior by the basketball Hall of Famer.

(Production: Omar Younis)