In a series of speeches since late December, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has signaled a historic change in inter-Korean policy, abandoning the goal of reunification and framing the South as a hostile foreign country.

While this move has taken the world by surprise, it is not a sudden change but rather part of a bigger strategic shift that started as a consequence of the failure of the U.S.-DPRK summit in Hanoi five years ago.

Yet the fallout of Hanoi is not the only development that has shaped Pyongyang’s policy reset