US Secretary of State John Kerry tells Dennis Rodman to stay out of diplomacy after North Korea visit FLAMBOYANT former American basketball star Dennis Rodman's diplomacy skills have been slam-dunked by his country's top diplomat. The former NBA player is the only American ever to have met and spent time with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Un, but US Secretary of State John Kerry isn't giving him any diplomatic kudos. Kerry said the ex-Chicago Bulls player "was a great basketball player, and as a diplomat, he was a great basketball player." "That's where we'll leave it," he told NBC News in an interview in Qatar, where he is wrapping up a nine-nation tour of Europe and the Middle East. Rodman made headlines last week with a visit to North Korea, when he sat next to youthful autocrat Kim Jong-Un at an exhibition basketball game and gave the dictator, who threatens to end the truce with South Korea, several compliments about his leadership.