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A human rights group has launched a petition to remove former NBA star Dennis Rodman from the Basketball Hall of Fame after his most recent jaunt to North Korea.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit, started the petition this week following the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was held by North Korea for 17 months before being released in a coma to the United States.

Mr. Rodman arrived in North Korea on June 13, the same day news broke that Warmbier had been released. U.S. officials have said theres no connection between his visit and the students release, CNN reported. Warmbier died Monday in Cincinnati.

Mr. Rodman, who has visited North Korea five times and befriended its brutal dictator, Kim Jong-un, says hes trying to bring basketball to the isolated country.

Everybodys going to be happy. It was a good day. It was a good trip. A really good trip, Mr. Rodman said in Beijing Saturday following his five-day trip, Reuters reported.

But the Victims of Communism group said Mr. Rodman has gone too far.

According to the Halls Board of Trustees, a candidate may be removed if he or she has damaged the integrity of the game of basketball, states the petition, which gathered more than 1,300 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. Clearly, Rodmans actions have tarnished the name and reputation of basketball and it is time that he is removed from the Hall of Fame. Doing so will send a message that all facets of American society, from sports to politics, will stand firm for our shared values and reject the shameless coddling of murderous dictatorial regimes.

Marion Smith, director of the rights group, said Warmbier was murdered by the North Korean regime.

The barbarous treatment received by this young American at the hands of his North Korean captors is sadly not a unique act, he told CNN. North Koreas government has a record of forcing innocent American tourists into decades of hard labor and of beating and torturing them to the point of death.

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Victims of Communism group wants Dennis Rodman booted from Hall of Fame - Washington Times