Two weeks have elapsed since North Korea made an unusual announcement on holding an even more unusual year-end party plenum.

During that time, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun visited Seoul but that did not lead to talks with Pyongyang authorities, dashing hopes for a last-minute breakthrough before the ‘year-end deadline’ unilaterally set by Kim Jong Un. 

North Korea continued to build pressure on the U.S. after the plenum announcement and in the lead-up to Biegun’s scheduled visit to Seoul, issuing two Academy of National Defense Science pronouncements on December