Dennis Rodman arrives in North Korea with all-star basketball team Defectors have repeatedly testified about North Korea's indiscriminate killings, rapes, beatings and prison camps Dennis Rodman is determined to use 'basketball diplomacy' to smooth relations between the hard-line regime and the West Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea on Monday with a team of former NBA players for an exhibition game on Kim Jong Un's birthday, after saying he wants to show that North Korea isn't so bad. The flamboyant Hall of Famer arrived in the North Korean capital from Beijing with a squad of a dozen former basketball stars including Vin Baker and Cliff Robinson in what Rodman calls "basketball diplomacy," although U.S. officials have criticized his efforts. It's about trying to connect two countries together in the world, to let people know that: Do you know what? Not every country in the world is that bad, especially North Korea," Rodman told The Associated Press in an interview outside his Beijing hotel before his flight to North Korea. Former NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman shakes hands with North Korea's Sports Ministry Vice Minister Son Kwang Ho upon his arrival at the international airport in Pyongyang on Monday Rodman, second right, walks with his arm around Sports Ministry Vice Minister Son Kwang Ho, third right, at the international airport in Pyongyang 'It's not that bad': Rodman has declared that even North Korea, with its appalling human rights record, deserves the hand of friendship People say so many negative things about North Korea. And I want people in the world to see it's not that bad. The U.S. is at odds with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, and Rodman has been faulted for not talking about North Korea's human rights record, described as one of the world's worst by activists, the U.S. State Department and North Korean defectors. U.S. basketball player Jerry Dupree, center, uses a mobile camera to take a photograph as he and fellow players including former NBA player Vin Baker, right, arrive at the international airport in Pyongyang, North Korea Rodman, center, is surrounded by media as he arrives at the departure hall of Beijing International Capital Airport on Monday Dennis Rodman holds a cigar as he speaks to North Korean basketball players during a practice session in Pyongyang, North Korea New York Knicks' Charles Smith (right) is another high-profile name in the team, as is All-Star Kenny Anderson Dennis Rodman gestures as he talks to journalists chasing him upon his arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport in September 2013 after a visit to North Korea The U.S. players are to compete in an exhibition game against a North Korean team on Wednesday, Kim's birthday. "Somehow we have to get along, and no matter what disagreements or what discrepancy we have in life," Rodman said. It's like saying: Why do we have the Olympics? When everyone one comes together in the Olympics, there's no problems. That's what I'm doing. That's all I'm doing.