--- title: Dennis Rodman Arrives in Singapore for North Korea Summit description: Former NBA standout Dennis Rodman has arrived in Singapore to support his "friends," President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. canonical: https://time.com/5308548/north-korea-summit-dennis-rodman/ author: Abby Vesoulis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-11T17:48:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:32:11.975Z article:section: Politics og:title: Dennis Rodman Came to the Trump-Kim Summit for More 'Basketball Diplomacy' og:description: His flight was paid for by a marijuana-based cryptocurrency. og:url: https://time.com/5308548/north-korea-summit-dennis-rodman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762947f4e626d92b/6988d18f196cf4474504094b/rts16x8f.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport as he leaves for North Korea's Pyongyang in Beijing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dennis Rodman Came to the Trump-Kim Summit for More 'Basketball Diplomacy' twitter:description: His flight was paid for by a marijuana-based cryptocurrency. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762947f4e626d92b/6988d18f196cf4474504094b/rts16x8f.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dennis Rodman Came to the Trump-Kim Summit for More 'Basketball Diplomacy' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Jun 11, 2018 5:48 PM UTC  Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport as he leaves for North Korea's Pyongyang, in Beijing, China, June 13, 2017. Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport as he leaves for North Korea's Pyongyang, in Beijing, China, June 13, 2017.Jason Lee—Reuters  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Jun 11, 2018 5:48 PM UTC Former NBA standout Dennis Rodman has arrived in Singapore to support his “friends,” President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a summit on Tuesday. Rodman tweeted last week that his flight would be covered in part by PotCoin, a digital currency used by the marijuana industry. > [](https://twitter.com/dennisrodman/status/1005094659427880960) Trump said Thursday that the basketball star was not invited to attend the actual summit. “I like him. He’s a nice guy. No, he was not invited,” Trump [told the media](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-abe-japan-bilateral-meeting-3/) during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In a recent Instagram [post](https://www.instagram.com/p/BjxQ3NsFVWk/?hl=en&taken-by=dennisrodman), Rodman shared a photo of himself posing with Trump, calling the president “one of the best negotiators of all time.” In [another post](https://www.instagram.com/p/BjzNLkTFihk/?hl=en&taken-by=dennisrodman), Rodman is pictured gifting Trump’s “Art of the Deal” book to North Korea’s minister of physical culture and sports, Kim Il Guk. Rodman has visited Kim in North Korea [at least four times](http://time.com/4815965/dennis-rodman-north-korea-kim-jong-un-nba-basketball/) and is one of few people who have met both leaders. Still, he maintains he is not a diplomat. “Well, that’s not my purpose right now,” Rodman [told reporters](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2018/03/09/dennis-rodman-praises-trumps-plan-to-meet-with-kim-please-send-my-regards/?utm%5Fterm=.629340c5ec61) in June of 2017\. “My purpose is to go over there and try to see if I can keep bringing sports to North Korea.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5308548/north-korea-summit-dennis-rodman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5308548/north-korea-summit-dennis-rodman/"},"headline":"Dennis Rodman Came to the Trump-Kim Summit for More 'Basketball Diplomacy'","datePublished":"2018-06-11T17:48:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:32:11.975Z","description":"Former NBA standout Dennis Rodman has arrived in Singapore to support his \"friends,\" President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.","url":"https://time.com/5308548/north-korea-summit-dennis-rodman/","keywords":["North Korea","Kim Jong Un","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762947f4e626d92b/6988d18f196cf4474504094b/rts16x8f.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abby Vesoulis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt762947f4e626d92b/6988d18f196cf4474504094b/rts16x8f.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport as he leaves for North Korea's Pyongyang in Beijing","caption":"Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport as he leaves for North Korea's Pyongyang in Beijing","creditText":"Jason Lee—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/north-korea/","name":"North Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5308548/north-korea-summit-dennis-rodman/","name":"Dennis Rodman Came to the Trump-Kim Summit for More 'Basketball Diplomacy'"}}]}] ```