Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has sat down with ABC for an interview after returning from his trip to the DPRK. He says the DPRK's young leader Kim Jong Un doesn't really want war with the superpower, just a call from President Barack Obama to chat about their shared love of basketball.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has sat down with ABC for an interview after returning from his trip to the DPRK.?

Asked by ABC about the DPRK's threat to destroy America and its human rights record, Rodman says he couldn't "condone that", but the Kim he met was a "human being".

He said, "I think he's going to change something because he's got a different view, 'cause I sat with him for two days. And the one thing he asked me to give (US President Barack) Obama something to say and do one thing. He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him."

Rodman's visit took place amid rising tensions between the two countries, triggered by the DPRK's third nuclear test last month.

The US State Department criticised the DPRK last week for "wining and dining" Rodman while its own people went hungry.

Rodman says Kim is a strong but humble man who doesn't want war with the US.

The former star suggests that Obama should bond with Kim over their shared love for basketball.

In January, after the United Nations Security Council voted to condemn the DPRK's successful rocket launch in December and expand penalties against Kim's government, the DPRK's National Defence Commission said in a statement that "settling accounts with the US needs to be done with force, not with words."

The statement also promised "a new phase of the anti-US struggle that has lasted century after century".