As diplomats go, he is perhaps one of the most unusual. Dennis Rodman is back in North Korea in his one-man mission to change the world via his pioneering model of "basketball diplomacy".
How has the American done this? With a unique selection of gifts.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
More precisely, Rodman is handing over a copy of The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump's ghostwritten 1987 bestseller - although the BBC thinks it might be unnecessary.
"Mr Kim has at his disposal ways and means of negotiating which would be unpalatable even to a New York real estate developer," it says. This is the man, after all, allegedly responsible for executing hundreds of people, including members of his family.
Rodman's choice of gift has raised speculation that he could be there as a secret emissary of the government. After all, he's probably the only person in the world who can call both leaders friends, after appearing on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.
He told CNN he hoped to do "something that's pretty positive" before he boarded a plane bound for the reclusive state.
But sadly, "the State Department has strongly denied that Rodman’s trip is anything other than a private one", the Washington Post reports.
However, Rodman also took with him a mermaid puzzle - and that, the BBC believes, feeds the "Rodman as secret ambassador" theory.
"Either they're both lying, and the mermaid puzzle, ingeniously, once completed, carries a coded message, or they're telling the truth, and one of Dennis Rodman's gifts to the leader of North Korea was a mermaid puzzle," it says.
And finally, there is a copy of Where's Waldo? Totally Essential Travel Collection, the US version of Where's Wally?.
What does this signify? No one has a clue, especially since Kim rarely, if ever, leaves his country.
The Washington Post speculates the puzzle and the Where's Waldo? are for Kim's young daughter, whom Rodman has met. We prefer to think they are for the leader himself.
Oh, and there were some fancy soaps as well, because gift-buying for one of the world's most notorious dictators is apparently similar to finding something for your mother-in-law.
-
Why quitting your job is so difficult in JapanUnder the Radar Reluctance to change job and rise of ‘proxy quitters’ is a reaction to Japan’s ‘rigid’ labour market – but there are signs of change
-
Gavin Newsom and Dr. Oz feud over fraud allegationsIn the Spotlight Newsom called Oz’s behavior ‘baseless and racist’
-
‘Admin night’: the TikTok trend turning paperwork into a partyThe Explainer Grab your friends and make a night of tackling the most boring tasks
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Ukraine, US and Russia: do rare trilateral talks mean peace is possible?Rush to meet signals potential agreement but scepticism of Russian motives remain
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Trump backs off Greenland threats, declares ‘deal’Speed Read Trump and NATO have ‘formed the framework for a future deal,’ the president claimed
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
