South Korea’s presidential election is fast approaching, but while North Korea will be paying close attention to the result, it’s unlikely to do anything more than publish a few political cartoons to sway the contest toward its favored candidate.

Pyongyang has not always been so relatively hands-off when it comes to South Korean domestic politics. Throughout the 20th century, the DPRK tried repeatedly to assassinate ROK leaders, and it arguably never got closer than it did at a Seoul theater in Aug. 1974.