A North Korean state-run newspaper has called Donald Trump a "psychopath" and suggested the US President would be willing to launch a nuclear strike against Pyongyang to distract from America's own domestic problems.

The comments, made in an article in the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, came after an American student who had been jailed in North Korea died following a medical evacuation. Mr Trump responded to 22-year-old Otto Warmbier's death by condemning the North as a "brutal regime", and he has himself described dictator Kim Jong-un as a "madman". 

Relations were already strained over the dictatorship's nuclear ambitions. The regime has increased missile tests in recent months, drawing international condemnation.

"South Korea must realise that following psychopath Trump ... will only lead to disaster," Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, wrote.

The article suggested the US President was considering launching a strike against the North because he was facing a "tough situation" in the US.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in is set to visit Mr Trump in Washington next week. The meeting – the first since Mr Moon took office in May – will consider the threat posed by the North.

Mr Moon called Pyongyang an "irrational regime" in an interview with CBS.

In pictures: North Korea military drill

8 show all

In pictures: North Korea military drill

Mr Warmbier, a student at the University of West Virginia, died on Monday after returning to the US in a coma. He had spent 17 months in detention in the secretive state.

The 22-year-old was arrested in North Korea in January 2016 while travelling with a tour group. He was arrested for stealing a propaganda sign from a hotel and sentenced to 15 years hard labour.

A spokesman in Pyongyang was quoted by Reuters as saying the death was "a mystery".