Dennis Rodman 'never going back' to North Korea, sorry he ever went

In an emotional interview with ESPN two months after his most recent trip to North Korea, Dennis Rodman said he was only trying to "do great things in life".

Apparently stinging from the concerted criticism his trips, and his apparent endorsement of the Kim regime, Rodman asked: "What makes me so damn bad? What makes me this bad, awful person?"

"I wish they understood the whole purpose of why I went to North Korea. I wish they did."

That purpose, apparently, was peace. "At least someone tried," Rodman said. "So that's how I look at it. You know, I don't want to be a hero, I don't want to be this, I don't want to be that. I just wanted to be, just do happy things and do great things in life. That's all I wanted to do. That's it."

"I don't want people to look at me as the devil or evil person," Rodman, who has recently left rehab where he was being treated for alcoholism, told ESPN. "If you don't want me to go back there ever again, I won't go back."

North Korea recently released a 75 year old Australian Hong Kong resident, who had been detained for proselytising inside the country. American Kenneth Bae however, remains behind bars, reportedly in a labour camp.