Mercifully, basketball great Dennis Rodman’s clown tour of North Korea is kaput. The sordid mess flamed out in the wake of Rodman’s drunken ramblings and ensuing apology for his apparent defense of the gulag imprisonment of U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae.

rodmanRodman’s palling around North Korea’s Kim Jong-un serves as greenwashing gold for that psycho’s brutal regime. The hoops crazed “Dear Leader” is a fitting successor to his madman father.

Human Rights Watch reports there has been “no positive impact on the country’s dire human rights record” since Junior took over.

There are more than 200K North Koreans, including children, locked away in prison camps, “where many perish from forced labor, inadequate food, and abuse by guards,” according to the rights NGO.

Arbitrary arrests, lack of due process and torture are standard practice. There is no independent media, functioning civil society, or religious freedom.

HRW blames Kim Jong-Il’s policies for contributing to widespread famine and food shortages. It has been pressing the United Nations for a commission of inquiry to investigate crimes of humanity in North America.

Clue to clueless Rodman: that’s your road to redemption. Make HRW’s push your fight. It’s not too late to say you were totally unaware of the tragedy of North Korea. Confess ignorance.

Believe me, we’ll believe you.