text: Dennis Rodman says he's not a diplomat, just a former NBA star fighting addiction and trying to be a better father. 
  
  But that hasn't kept him from becoming embroiled, even if unintentionally, in U.S.-North Korea relations. 
  
  His apparent chumminess with North Korea's leader has been controversial, as have previous proclamations that Kim Jong Un is a "nice guy." 
  
  Rodman said he simply does not know enough about the allegations of abuse and authoritarianism that Kim is reviled for. 
  
  "I keep telling people, I'm not there to be an ambassador to try to figure out why (is Kim) doing all these things? That's not my job," Rodman told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" Friday. 
  
  It was his first interview since entering an alcohol rehabilitation facility two weeks ago. 
  
  The former basketball player is probably the American with the most access to the North Korean leader, and many have been critical that he has not lobbied for the release of American prisoner Kenneth Bae from a labor camp. 
  
  "I'm not an ambassador, and I tried to strive and tell people, just because I know the marshal (Kim), that doesn't mean I know the marshal like that," he said. 
  
  Rodman says he didn't mean to insinuate during an earlier interview this month that he knew why Bae, a Korean-American, was being held in North Korea. 
  
  "To this day I still don't know what he did," Rodman said, even offering to take Bae's place if he could. 
  
  "I feel for (Bae's family). I feel for them deeply. ... I would do anything literally. This is Dennis Rodman talking. If they (North Korea) said, 'We'll take Dennis Rodman and we'll let Kenenth Bae go,' I'll say, 'You know what? I'll do that. ... Take me.'" 