Photos: Rodman and team play basketball for Kim Jong Un's birthday

Since first making a trip to North Korea in February 2013 to host a basketball exhibition, former NBA player Dennis Rodman has been the recipient of extensive media coverage for his "basketball diplomacy." Over the course of three subsequent trips, Rodman, who has called North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un a "friend for life," has received a great deal of criticism from the media and human rights groups, who believe his one-man diplomatic outreach has instead provided unwelcome cover for the leader of one of the most authoritarian countries on earth. In his trip to the country this week, which had already attracted much attention for a fiery interview with CNN in which Rodman shot down questions about the wisdom of his cultural outreach given human rights abuses in the country, the former NBA all-star organized an exhibition with a team of fellow ex–NBA players in honor of the North Korean leader's birthday.