The five years of the Moon Jae-in administration are coming to an end, closing an important chapter in inter-Korean relations and providing a good time to consider how well the soon-to-be-retired president handled uneasy interactions with Pyongyang.

Moon has dealt with rather bad press about how his policy toward North Korea, which he hoped would lead to a diplomatic breakthrough that would be his major historic legacy. But is this verdict fair?

Let’s not forget that conservative experts dominate the South Korean foreign policy community and have always looked on Moon with great suspicion. They were eager to present Moon