Dennis Rodman says he’s sorry

Last week, he said he was sorry about his bizarre, drunken outburst on CNN about an American citizen held prisoner in North Korea.

Now, Rodman says he’s sorry about what’s going on inside North Korea, a nation renowned for its human rights abuses.

He said he did nothing wrong by organizing a basketball game last week at a packed stadium in Pyongyang, an event at which he sang “Happy Birthday” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“I’m sorry for what’s going on in North Korea, the certain situations,” Rodman told CNN on Monday after arriving at Beijing International Airport from Pyongyang.

citizen sentenced last year to 15 years of hard labor by North Korea on accusations that he planned to bring down the government through religious activities.

He said he was happy that by playing basketball with and in front of North Koreans — an approach dubbed “basketball diplomacy” — he and the other former NBA players who accompanied him had tried to “do something good for the world.” Some observers have said Rodman’s “basketball diplomacy” may have positive effects in North Korea by offering the people there a different view of the West, compared with its demonic portrayal in the country’s tightly controlled state media.

Retired NBA player Cliff Robinson, who went on the trip, said Monday on CNN’s “New Day” that he was surprised by the backlash the trip generated back home and was unaware the game would coincide with Kim’s birthday.

Last week, NBA Commissioner David Stern said the former NBA players were “blinded by the payday,” but the players have been adamant that North Korea did not pay them.

No, we did not get paid from North Korea at all,” Rodman teammate Charles Smith told CNN in a lengthy exclusive interview on “New Day Sunday.”