Despite South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s eagerness for inter-Korean reconciliation, North Korea’s demolition of the joint liaison office in June showed how little Pyongyang has grown to care about relations with Seoul.

For Kim Jong Un, the inter-Korean summits of 2018 resulted in little more than lofty goals and flowery rhetoric. Large-scale infrastructure projects, massive South Korean tourism projects and significant inflows of finance never became more than ink on paper.

Seoul’s adherence to sanctions was ultimately much stronger than many observers anticipated, killing the majority of projects before they even began and