Dennis Rodman Calls North Korea's Kim Jong-Un 'Friend for Life'

It has been years since controversial NBA legend Dennis Rodman last played in the NBA, but the multi-time NBA champion raised eyebrows around the world on Thursday when he told North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Un "you have a friend for life."

Rodman, who is on the third day of a journey to Pyongyang, North Korea to shoot VICE--a new HBO weekly series--sat with Kim during an exhibition game in the capital city of North Korea, which has been under Communist rule since the late 1940s.

The pair was watching players from the U.S. and North Korea play on mixed teams, a spokesman for the VICE media company told the Associated Press.

As ESPN notes, the change makes Rodman the most famous American yet to meet with Kim since he took office following the death of his father, the controversial Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.

Rodman, 51, better known by hoops fans as "The Worm" made his fame as one of the NBA greatest rebounders and defenders while becoming, arguably, its most controversial and flamboyant superstar ever.

During his 14-season NBA career, Rodman won five NBA titles with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls while winning five rebounding titles, two NBA All-Star selections and being named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team seven times until he retired in 2000. He was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Amid tensions between the U.S. and North Korea thanks to the latter nation conducting an underground nuclear test earlier this month, Kim, a hardcore basketball fan, told Rodman as they chatted during the game that he was hoping the hoops star's visit would help diffuse the tension between their two nations.

Despite the appearances of how it would look for Rodman to be breaking bread with a country the U.S. perceives as a hostile nation, Rodman's longtime agent, Darren Prince, said Rodman wasn't worried about any criticism he may receive, saying that the visit to North Korea was "all about peace and love."