Intro:

Former NBA star Charles D. Smith defends Dennis Rodman's North Korea trip as his party arrives in Beijing on Monday (13th January).

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Charles D. Smith, former NBA player:
"Dennis has been the type of person he has been when he played basketball and after he played basketball. Dennis is not a member of the State Department, he is not a member of the UN. For them to put the flag in his hands and say go and negotiate and talk about it, he probably would have made it worse, you know? But that's not fair to the family, it's not fair to Dennis, and it's just a bad situation. I think that overshadowed some of the things that we were doing."

SOUNDBITE (English) Charles D. Smith, former NBA player
"He opened the door and he did some missteps along the way. The happy birthday situation… that was not unscheduled. He just unilaterally did that, and I think that it might not have been the right thing to do, but he did it."