Intro:

Dennis Rodman and his team of American basketball players held a match with North Koreans in Pyongyang on Wednesday, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrated his birthday.

Script:

All good friends should attend each other's birthday parties, but this friendship is unlike any other.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is back in North Korea to celebrate another year in the life of the country's leader, Kim Jong-Un, believed to be turning 31.

Despite his presence, the basketball-mad dictator wasn't to be seen - North Korean authorities did not allow the basketball-mad Kim and his wife to be filmed by foreign media at the event, path of the course in the world's most secretive state.

The eccentric former Chicago Bulls man has brought a team of fellow professionals to the capital Pyongyang for a series of exhibition matches, a visit which comes just weeks after the brutal execution of Mr Kim's uncle, Chang Song-thaek.

Washington has made it clear that Rodman and his basketball diplomacy is in no way representative of the United States, but that didn't stop the rapturous applause from the tens of thousands in attendance.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Rodman "I think this is, this is, a very historical day today for everyone around the world, to see that we can coexist with each other. I think that it went very well for everyone involved."

It's Rodman's fourth visit to the country, and once again his decision has been criticised by rights groups.

It has also been marked by an outburst on CNN earlier this week which suggested that Korean-American Kenneth Bae, who is being held in a labour camp in the country, was deserving of his 15-year sentence.

A US congressman has compared the event to inviting Adolf Hitler for lunch.

But with Rodman set in his ways, this might not be the last the world hears of his 'Big Bang in Pyongyang'.