Update: Jesus wept (hat tip):

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Charles D. Smith, one of the former players who went to Pyongyang with Dennis Rodman, is still in Pyongyang, but he’s already saying he feels “remorse” for going because of the public backlash against the trip, and because of Rodman’s mouth:

“The way some of the statements and things that Dennis has said has tainted our efforts,” Smith said. “Dennis is a great guy, but how he articulates what goes on — he gets emotional and he says things that he’ll apologize for later.” [….] “I feel bad for Dennis, I feel bad for the players,” Smith said afterward, adding that when he played for the United States in the 1988 Olympics he felt elation. “I felt huge, I felt on top of the world. But I feel the reverse now,” he said. “I feel a lot of remorse for the guys because we are doing something positive, but it’s a lot bigger than us. We are not naive, we understand why things are being portrayed the way they are. We can’t do anything about that, if we could we would. “We’re not skilled in those particular areas,” he added. “Dennis is definitely not skilled in those particular areas.”

Smith isn’t the only one:

Many of the players on Tuesday expressed second thoughts about going ahead because of an outpouring of criticism back home in the United States.

As of yesterday, both the NBA and the National Basketball Retired Players’ Association had publicly denounced the trip.

I know I’ve already reported on the press event with Suzanne Scholte, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, and Rep. Elliot Engel, but I have to link Time’s report on that event, which notes that Engel “is working on bipartisan legislation to expand and enforce sanctions on North Korea.” Also joining Engel were “a mother and daughter who escaped North Korea.” The daughter said this:

Jo Jin Hye, a 26-year-old North Korean escapee who fled the country with her mother and sister and now lives in Virginia, echoed the appeal to call off the match. Jo had previously testified before a United Nations commission on human rights abuses in the country. “I want to say, NBA player people, please don’t make Kim Jong Un happy. And I want to say if you want to help North Korea, just help normal people like us. Just the North Korean people, not the North Korean government,” he said.

Next up, Kenneth Bae’s sister, who really should be doing more interviews and making more public statements about her brother:

His sister, Terri Chung, told Anderson Cooper 360 that Rodman’s comments were shocking and outrageous. But she said she was upset because Rodman didn’t use his relationship with Kim to help gain her brother’s release from the hospital. “He was in a position to do some good and to help advocate for Kenneth,” she said. “He refused to do so. But then instead he has chosen to hurl these outrageous accusations against Kenneth. He clearly doesn’t know anything about Kenneth, about his case. And so we were appalled by that.” She said her brother was in North Korea legally working as a tour operator. She hoped one of the former basketball players would take a chance to ask for amnesty for him. “This isn’t some game. This is about a person’s life,” she said. [CNN]

The White House piles on:

“I did not see some of the comments that Mr. Rodman made, but I am not going to dignify that outburst with a response,” Carney added. “I am simply going to say that we remain gravely concerned about Kenneth Bae’s health and continue to urge the DPRK authorities to grant his amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds.” [CNN]

I’ll close with the most surprising source of criticism.

Bill Richardson, former governor of New Mexico and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN he was “disappointed” by Rodman’s performance. I think Dennis Rodman crossed a line this morning by implying that Kenneth Bae might be guilty, by suggesting that there was a crime,” the politician said. “There is no crime. Kenneth Bae is an American detainee that’s been there a year in bad health, who deserves to come home.” He said Rodman “drank a little bit too much of the Kool-Aid from the North Koreans.” [CNN]

Anything to stay relevant, I suppose.

Thanks to Dennis Rodman, several hundred million more people now know that North Korea is one of the world’s worst human rights violators, has a massive gulag system, is inhabited by shrunken, half-starved people, and is led by an impulsive, morbidly obese playboy. Keep on rocking, Dennis.