Dennis Rodman to Obama: Talk Basketball with North Korea's Kim Jong-un

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has turned relationship counsellor by sending President Barack Obama a message from ruthless dictator Kim Jong-un - "Call me!"

Rodman, dubbed the 'basketball diplomat' after his recent visit to North Korea, revealed more details of his mission to the hermit state.

Rodman told ABC: "He wants Obama to do one thing - call him. He said, 'If you can, Dennis - I don't want war. I don't want to do war.' He said that to me."

"I said 'Obama loves basketball.' Let's start there."

Rodman's bid to play mediator in the tense diplomatic stand-off came as North Korea threatened to blow up the White House.

A state-run newspaper issued the warning: 'If the aggressors pounce upon us, we will stand in the vanguard of an all-people resistance and totally destroy the White House.' It went on to brand the White House "a lair of scoundrels".

Flamboyant Rodman declared his visit to the nuclear-armed country "historic". He described 30-year-old Kim as a great leader and leapt to the defence of North Korea following reports that more gulags are under construction there.

"What I did was history. And guess what, it's just like we do in America [prison camps].

"This is all politics, right? He don't want to do that [go to war]. This is coming from his father. As a young man, he doesn't want anything. He's not his dad, he's not his grandpa [North Korea's previous dictators].

"He's very humble and very strong as a man. He's a great guy if you sit down and talk to him."

He said, however, that he dod not condone the threats to destroy the White House.

Rodman, whose basketball nickname was "The Worm" now knows more about North Korea's leader than any American politician or the secret services, according to one retired colonel.