North Korea 'reaches out to Republican analysts' in bid to understand Trump's behaviour

North Korean officials are reportedly reaching out to Republican-linked experts in an effort to understand Donald Trump’s behaviour.

A nuclear-powered standoff has led to intensifying threats and shows of force from both North Korea and the United States. As North Korea has tested increasingly sophisticated missiles, launching multiple projectiles over Japan, Mr Trump has warned the country it could face annihilation.

He threatened to “totally destroy” the country in a speech to the United Nations and followed up by proclaiming on Twitter that North Korea's ruling regime - lead by Kim Jong-un - “won’t be around much longer,” a threat North Korea framed as an act of war.

Seeking to parse the president’s intentions, members of North Korea’s government have tried to arrange contacts with Washington analysts who can illuminate the president’s mindset and explain why he publicly contradicts top administration officials, according to the Washington Post.

Among those whom North Korea contacted was former CIA analyst Bruce Klingner, who told the Post he declined an invitation to visit the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

“They’re on a new binge of reaching out to American scholars and ex-officials”, Mr Klingner told the Post.

North Koreans who attended unofficial talks in Switzerland had heavily scrutinised the president’s tweets to the extent they could quote them according to the report. Mr Trump frequently makes surprise policy announcements or undercuts statements from his administration on Twitter. He also used the medium to introduce his his newly coined nickname of “Rocket Man” for Mr Kim.

While Mr Trump has expressed hope of finding a diplomatic solution to North Korean aggression, echoing the preference of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jingping, his administration has consistently dangled the use of military force as a possibility. His ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said recently that diplomatic options for constraining North Korea are dwindling, with successive rounds of UN sanctions failing to deter the regime's belligerence.