North Korea Wants To Know If Trump Is ‘Crazy’ Or Pretending

North Korea is eager to know if President Donald Trump is “crazy,” according to a U.S. negotiator in an interview with Politico published Monday.

“I think they really want to know what is his end game," said Suzanne DiMaggio, a director at the New America think tank. "They want to know if he’s crazy, or if this is just an act. Is this a good cop/bad cop that he’s doing with [Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson? These are the sorts of questions that they have."

DiMaggio has spoken to North Korean officials several times this year in “track 2” discussions. These are discussions typically between non-governmental entities, but in North Korea’s case, there aren't many non-governmental entities.

The U.S. has no official diplomatic ties with North Korea, but Tillerson confirmed earlier this year that the State Department has been attempting to communicate with Pyongyang via back channels.

DiMaggio said that Trump has made possible attempts at negotiations with North Korean’s harder because of his rhetoric and turmoil he faces in the U.S.

“And what I see with Trump is he has made it even harder in a number of ways. One, I think … is his rhetoric, the personalization of the insults towards [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un; and then, his undermining of his own chief diplomat, when he told Rex Tillerson to stop wasting his time,” said DiMaggio. “They question his erratic behavior, and also his mounting problems here at home, with the investigation being conducted by [Special Counsel] Robert Mueller, and they, I’m sure, are asking why should we begin negotiations with the Trump administration, when Donald Trump may not be president much longer?”

In an interview earlier this year with NPR, DiMaggio said that she was concerned that Trump’s language could lead to a situation where the U.S. and North Korea misread each other.

Trump’s decision to decertify the nuclear agreement with Iran has also affected hopes of negotiations with North Korea said DiMaggio. She said North Korea was sent the message that if the president went back on that deal, why wouldn't he go back on a deal with them.

DiMaggio has met with North Koreans in Geneva, Pyongyang, Oslo and Moscow. She hopes that the U.S. will employ more diplomatic means with North Korea in order to avoid a nuclear war.

“The US needs to pursue/exhaust every diplomatic option available to avert the possibility of a nuclear war with a regime that believes it’s in survival mode,” said DiMaggio on Twitter.