Former NBA player Dennis Rodman defended his trip with other basketball players to North Korea in an explosive interview Tuesday, saying he hopes his presence will open doors. 
 
 “One day, one day this door is going to open because of these 10 guys here,” an emotional Rodman told CNN’s “New Day” during a satellite interview from Pyongyang, North Korea. 
 
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 Rodman, along with other former NBA players, arrived in North Korea to play an exhibition basketball game against a North Korean team Wednesday. 
 
 Rodman called the trip a “great idea for the world.” 
 
 (PHOTOS: Dennis Rodman, Kim Jong Un in North Korea) 
 
 However, following questioning from CNN’s Chris Cuomo about the political criticisms of the trip, the NBA Hall of Famer exploded. Cuomo asked Rodman whether he will use the opportunity to speak about Kenneth Bae, an American citizen who has been held in North Korea. 
 
 “Do you understand what he did?” Rodman said. “You tell me! You tell me! Why is he held captive?” 
 
 “I don’t give a rat’s a— what you think,” Rodman said, repeatedly yelling that the men — who joined him on set for the interview — left their families behind for the trip and are facing criticism as well. 
 
 (PHOTOS: Kenneth Bae’s life and imprisonment) 
 
 Remaining calm was former NBA player Charles Smith, who echoing Rodman’s justification for “basketball diplomacy” said it wasn’t about politics and walked back Rodman’s relationship with Kim Jong Un, who Rodman has previously described as a “friend for life.” 
 
 “We’re playing semantics on the word ‘friend.’ We all know that when you use the term friend, it’s an endearing term. It’s an associate,” Smith said. 
 
 Smith added they are not scheduled to meet with Kim Jong Un and said the date of the game, reported as being for Kim Jong Un’s birthday, was arranged that way. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Stern, retired players hit Rodman trip) 
 
 Smith said they were apologetic for the “kind of storm that has been created” for their presence in the country, but said it had nothing to do with politics and that Cuomo’s questions about politics were “baiting” Rodman to get emotional. 
 
 “We’ve said numerous times that we’re not here for any political aspects. We’re not here to talk politics. So outside of that, any questions that come back through that is baiting to get us into politics,” Smith said. 
 
 Smith said they had no idea that the negative press “would extend this far.” 
 
 “We’re apologetic we did not know that it was going to take this type of negative spin on what we were doing because we’re not politicians, we’re not ambassadors,” Smith said. ||||| Dennis Rodman gave a rather odd satellite interview from North Korea this morning that quickly devolved into an angry rant about Kenneth Bae and who the real criminals or heroes are or are not. Or something. 
 
 For starters, it seems Rodman, who arrived in North Korea this week with his traveling band of basketball diplomats, doesn't understand why CNN would question the timing of his basketball game birthday present to Kim Jong-un. The game is a "great idea for the world," Rodman told CNN's Chris Cuomo in an interview that eventually turned into the former basketball star angrily yelling about imprisoned American Kenneth Bae, who has been held in the country on dubious charges for over a year. 
 
 Cuomo was speaking to Rodman, along with a handful of other former NBA players who are in the country to play against the North Korean basketball team on Wednesday, which is Kim's birthday. While Rodman and the other players have framed the game as a "cultural exchange," it's also apparently part of a birthday celebration for the dictator. Since Kim loves basketball, and Rodman has repeatedly referred to the dictator as his "friend," Cuomo asked Rodman to justify his friendly association with a man who, among other terrible things, recently killed his own uncle. 
 
 Rodman's response to Cuomo, essentially, was that the game is "a great idea for the world," and that "I don't give a rat's ass what the hell you think." Pointing to the former NBA players sitting around him, Rodman screamed, "look at these guys here, look at them ... they dared to do one thing, they came here!" 
 
 At one point in his response, Rodman seems to accuse Kenneth Bae of actually doing something wrong, though he isn't sure what that could be. 
 
 "Kenneth Bae did one thing ... If you understand what Kenneth Bae did. Do you understand what he did in this country? No, no, no, you tell me, you tell me. Why is he held captive here in this country, why? ... I would love to speak on this. 
 
 At the end of Rodman's rant, former New York Knick Charles Smith added, "Dennis makes a great point." The point, according to Smith, is that the basketball players are "not here to talk politics." They are there to play basketball. Other American visitors to the country can take care of everything else. 
 
 Bae, whose health has deteriorated since his imprisonment in the country in late 2012, is serving a 15-year sentence for hard labor in the country. The North Korean charges against him include accusations that the American citizen was part of a Christian conspiracy to overthrow Kim's government. Rodman has repeatedly refused to bring up Bae's plight with his pal Kim, despite initially promising to do so.
– Yesterday saw Dennis Rodman participate in a super weird CNN interview, and the bizarre saga of Rodman in North Korea didn't end there. The former NBA player today sang "Happy Birthday" to "best friend" Kim Jong Un, the AP reports. The performance, before an exhibition game involving US and North Korean players, "started out as surreal," a tour guide tells Reuters. "Then people joined in and it sort of faded a bit, but it seemed pretty heartfelt from Rodman's side." As for Kim, he "appeared to smile, but he didn't appear to expect it." Other players didn't accompany Rodman in song, says former New York Knick Charles D. Smith. "We always tell Dennis that he can't sing. He is tone deaf," Smith notes. "He did it alone."