Laughing off jokes about his graying hair and questions about his stress levels, South Korea’s unification minister said that he has high hopes of reaching a turning point with North Korea in the new year.

Speaking on South Korea’s CBS Radio on Monday, Minister of Unification Lee In-young covered everything from the obliterated inter-Korean joint liaison office in June to his hopes for the incoming U.S. president and his pitch to Pyongyang about delivering COVID-19 aid. 

“With President Biden’s inauguration as the starting point, I think the whole situation [with North Korea] could make a U-turn in the direction of