In the South, incoming president Yoon Suk-yeol takes over from Moon Jae-in, potentially yielding shifts away from diplomacy with Pyongyang and toward closer relations with Washington and Tokyo.

In the North, a recent ICBM test stoked concerns about nuclear risks as many diplomatic mechanisms are on ice. And both Koreas face a diplomatic test as the Russian invasion of Ukraine creates new friction in global politics and economics.

Our guest, John Delury, is Professor of Chinese Studies at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies and Underwood International College in Seoul, South Korea. He is author of Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China (Cornell, 2022) and is co-authoring a book on the political history of North Korea and the keys to the longevity and resilience of Kim family rule. His PhD is from Yale.