On the surface, the Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the U.S. midterm elections appears to limit the chances for a revival of diplomacy between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A Democratic-controlled Senate makes ratification of a formal peace treaty highly unlikely for one, and Trump cannot unilaterally repeal statutory sanctions or guarantee congressional funding for a grand economic bargain. Pyongyang, with decades of experience negotiating with the U.S., knows this well.

But despite these new barriers, there are strong reasons to believe that North Korea still wants