U.S.-North Korea relations are approaching their lowest point in decades, with no official talks between the two countries since the end of the Trump administration. 

Inter-Korean ties are at a similar nadir, far from the hopeful days of Sunshine Policy and from the summits of the Moon Jae-in era. For the two allies, containment has become the default approach, while North Korea seems to have written off the Biden administration entirely.

Is there any prospect of a thaw? Frank Aum, senior expert on Northeast Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said there might be — through either crisis or