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\nNorth Korea has quietly reached out to Republican-linked analysts in Washington, in an\u00a0attempt to further understand President Donald Trump and his intentions towards their nation.
The efforts to seek expertise began well before the recent exchange of threats between North Korea’s Leader Kim Jong-un and Trump, according to the Washington Post.
„Their number-one concern is Trump. They can\u2019t figure him out,“ a source with knowledge of the country’s approach told the Post.
North Korea’s representatives expressed during a multilateral meeting in Switzerland that they want to be recognized as a nuclear weapons\u2013possessing state, and they are not entertaining discussions about denuclearization, the Post reported.
But to get a better understanding of American intentions, in the absence of official diplomatic talks with the U. S. government, North Korea\u2019s mission to the United Nations invited\u00a0 Bruce Klingner, a former CIA analyst who is now the Heritage Foundation\u2019s top expert on North Korea, to visit Pyongyang for meetings. Trump has close ties to Heritage [Foundation], a conservative think tank that has influenced the president on everything from travel restrictions to defense spending, but no personal connection to Klingner.
Klinger declined the invitation and believes that „while such meetings are useful, if the regime wants to send a clear message it should reach out directly to the U. S. government.“ Yet\u00a0it appears the Trump administration has no interest in direct talks with\u00a0the country.
„Early in Trump\u2019s term, the North Koreans asked broad questions: Is the U. S. president serious about closing American military bases in South Korea and Japan,\u00a0as he said on the campaign trail?“ the Post reported. „Might he really send U. S. nuclear weapons back to the southern half of the Korean Peninsula?“<\/p>\n