Dennis Rodman Tells Barack Obama to Call North Korea's Kim Jong-Un

Dennis Rodman has a message for President Barack Obama regarding the former basketball star's new friend, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un: give him a call.

The message comes on the heels of Rodman's visit to Pyongyang, North Korea last week while Rodman, a former five-time NBA champion and part of the Chicago Bulls' second dynasty in the 1990s, was filming a new TV project featuring the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters.

Rodman praised Kim during a sit-down interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday.

"He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him. He said, 'If you can, Dennis, I don't want [to] do war. I don't want to do war.' He said that to me," Rodman said.

Rodman and Kim were seen paling around during a basketball game in Pyongyang. However, North Korea was criticized by the U.S. State Department for entertaining Rodman amid the nation's widespread poverty.

"You've got the regime spending money to wine and dine foreign visitors, when they should be feeding their own people," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told the Associated Press.

Amnesty International lists several major human rights concerns in North Korea, including reports of its people being sent to prison camps, with detainees often being tortured and suffering "other cruel, in inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

"Prisoners are punished if suspected of lying, not working fast enough or forgetting the words of patriotic songs. Forms of punishment include beatings, forced exercise, sitting without moving for prolonged periods of time and humiliation," the website reads.

Rodman sidestepped questions about Kim's poor human rights record, blaming a majority of the country's problem's on Kim's late father, Kim Jong-Il, who died last December.

Rodman also told Stephanopoulos that Kim is "a good guy to me. He's my friend. I don't condone what he does, but as far as a person to person, he's my friend."

Regarding some of the accusations against Kim, Rodman said his new friend wasn't too different from former President Bill Clinton.

"We have presidents over here that do the same thing, right? It's amazing that Bill Clinton can have sex with his secretary, get away with it and still be in power," Rodman said.