Former NBA legend Dennis Rodman will return to North Korea soon with a "promise" to gain the release of jailed American proselytizer Kenneth Bae, as Pyongyang abruptly rescinded an invitation Friday to a senior State Dept. official who, according to U.S. officials, had already hammered out an agreement that would have seen the prisoner return with the most senior U.S. official to visit the isolated nation since Kim Jong Un assumed power in December 2011.

Three days ago, on August 27, the U.S. State Department announced that Special Envoy for Human Rights Ambassador Robert King would travel to North Korea to bring home an American Christian missionary doing hard labor in prison for possessing "propaganda material" and committing "hostile acts."