Dennis Rodman takes credit for pushing North Korean talks

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman in a new interview said he believes his work in North Korea “resonated” to facilitate the current talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Rodman told TMZ that he gave North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a copy of one of President Trump’s books. Rodman reportedly gave Kim “The Art of the Deal” during a visit in 2017.

“I think he didn’t realize who Donald Trump was at that time,” Rodman said of Kim.

{mosads}Rodman, who supported Trump’s bid for the Oval Office and has made several trips to North Korea, said he didn’t want to take credit for the current dialogue between North Korea and South Korea.

“And I don’t want to take all the credit. I don’t want to sit here and say ‘I did this. I did that.’ No, that’s not my intention,” he said. 

But Rodman added that he believes his work as a sports ambassador to Pyongyang “resonated.”

“I think that has resonated until this whole point now. … I don’t ask Donald Trump for anything. You know, I like Donald Trump. He’s a good friend,” Rodman, a former contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice,” said.

“And I’ve always asked him to talk to me because he wants the people of North Korea — and the government over there asked me to talk to Donald Trump about what they want and how we can solve things.”

The comments from the NBA Hall of Famer come as Trump gears up for a proposed summit with Kim in the coming weeks. The White House has yet to announce a date or location, but Trump early Monday floated the Demilitarized Zone on the Korean Peninsula as a possible venue.

Kim last week met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for the first time and reportedly said he would give up his nation’s nuclear weapons should the United States vow it won’t invade North Korea.