Han Song Ryol, the North Korean diplomat who serves as his country's principal liaison with the United States, has spent the better part of the past two decades exploring the prospects for a normalized bilateral relationship with Washington.
From his perch at North Korea's mission to the United Nations on Manhattan's East Side, Han oversees Pyongyang's end of the New York channel, a diplomatic conduit that was established in the early 1990s and that, in a more hopeful era, paved the way for the first visit by a high-ranking North Korean official to Washington.
But the importance of the New York channel has been noticeably diminished over the years, according to diplomats. Today, with the U.S. and North Korea at a standoff and the threat of a fourth nuclear test by the North looming, Han's channel has been reduced to a diplomatic P.O. box that passes occasional messages between capitals and arranges travel for VIP visits to Pyongyang.