As spring flowers bloom, the season of summitry is upon us in Asia, calling forth an unprecedented rush of bilateral meetings between heads of state in the run-up to the potentially groundbreaking meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late May.

For foreign policy watchers and practitioners, North Korea has long been called “the land of lousy policy options” and seen as subject to the so-called “groundhog day trap.” This refers to the cycles of provocation and conciliation that have defined North Korea’s interactions with the outside world