Former NBA star Dennis Rodman met North Korea's Kim Jong-un yesterday on the third day of his improbable journey to Pyongyang, telling the leader, "You have a friend for life", a delegation spokesman said.

Rodman and Kim sat side by side at an exhibition game in Pyongyang, chatting as they watched players from North Korea and the US play on mixed teams, Alex Detrick, a spokesman for the New York-based VICE media company, said.

Kim told Rodman he hoped the visit would break the ice between the US and North Korea, Detrick said. Kim later invited the Americans to dinner.

[1]The encounter makes Rodman the most high-profile American to meet with the young North Korean leader since Kim took power in December 2011, and takes place against a backdrop of tension between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was aimed at sending a warning to the United States to drop what it considers a "hostile" policy towards the North.

Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the professional Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy and a VICE production crew to shoot a documentary.

Yesterday's game in a packed gymnasium ended in a 110-110 draw, Detrick said.

[2]Afterwards, Rodman addressed Kim before a crowd of tens of thousands of North Koreans, telling him, "You have a friend for life", Detrick said.

The leader later plied the group with liquor, VICE TV producer Jason Mojica said.

"Um … so Kim Jong-un just got the #VICEonHBO crew wasted … no really, that happened," Mojica wrote on his Twitter feed.

Duffy later invited Kim to visit the US, a proposal met with hearty laughter from the North Korean leader, Detrick said.