![Members of an Indian delegation headed by junior Foreign Minister V. K. Singh, third left, meet North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, third right, Pyongyang, North Korea, May 16, 2018 (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service photo via AP).](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/l_north-korea-india-05312018-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
In mid-May, India sent a junior foreign minister to Pyongyang for an official visit, the first such visit by an Indian government minister to North Korea in almost 20 years. The trip took place against the backdrop of intense diplomatic engagement between Washington and Pyongyang that could ease North Korea’s economic isolation. In an email interview, Balbina Hwang, an adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University, discusses North Korea’s economic and diplomatic ties with South and Southeast Asian countries, and the implications of the potential thaw on the Korean Peninsula for these relationships. World Politics Review: What has been the nature […]