HONG KONG — Dennis Rodman, the former basketball star, returned Tuesday to North Korea, where he said he planned to see “my friend” Kim Jong-un, the dictator whose country until recently was threatening to annihilate the United States with nuclear weapons.

Mr. Rodman said in Beijing that he was planning a five-day visit to the North, but played down speculation that he would try to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary who has been jailed there since late last year after being detained on North Korean soil.

“I’m not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae,” Mr. Rodman, a Basketball Hall of Fame member, told Reuters in a telephone interview. “I’m just going there on another basketball diplomacy tour.” Mr. Kim is known to be a fervent basketball fan, and the two watched a game together during Mr. Rodman’s previous visit.