If 2017 was the year of “fire and fury,” 2018 saw the United States and North Korea turn from the rhetoric of war to diplomacy.

North Koreans who were struggling to overcome the economic crisis began marketization and developed and business vehicles called ‘servi-cha.’

Pyongyang's promise of prosperity runs up against hard realities that even the Worker's Party cannot deny. With little changes to the broken economic structure, time may not be on Kim Jong-un's side.

New strategies from Seoul and Washington for engaging with Southeast and South Asia are also creating new opportunities to further expand the relationship.

South Korean efforts to help North Korea with reforestation have received relatively less attention than efforts to reconnect road and rail lines.

South Korea, despite its status as a developed nation under the OECD, ranks poorly on mental health statistics among similar countries of its caliber.