Former National Basketball Association player Dennis Rodman and his party held a joint practice with North Korean players, one day after his arrival in Pyongyang, the North’s official news agency reported.

“Basketball players of the DPRK and the U.S. conducted joint training in Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium here on Wednesday. Participating in it were U18 players of the DPRK and ex-player of the NBA of the U.S. Dennis Rodman and his party,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency said in a brief report.

DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The 51-year-old NBA Hall of Famer arrived in North Korea on Tuesday on a trip earlier described by his U.S. sponsors as aimed at promoting “basketball diplomacy.”

The U.S. state department, however, later dismissed the notion of any sports diplomacy with the communist nation, calling it a “private trip.”

The North’s relationships with both South Korea and the United States recently worsened after the communist North conducted its third nuclear test earlier this month.

The KCNA report said match tactics and training modes of players from the two countries were exchanged at the joint training with a workshop on basketball techniques also held. (Yonhap News)