FORMER foreign minister Julie Bishop has praised Donald Trump’s “unorthodox“ approach to dealing with North Korea ahead of the announcement of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize which some punters think could go to the leaders of Korea’s warring states.

Ms Bishop said the US president had built a “personal relationship” based on trust with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“It has led to a situation where bookies are backing Kim Jong-un and (South Korea’s) President Jae-in Moon to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a couple of hours from now,” she said in Sydney on Friday.

“That is an extraordinary proposition in anyone’s language.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to North Korea this weekend for denuclearisation talks, with the state department calling the move “forward progress“, despite negative signals from Pyongyang.