North Korea tension sidelines South’s Unification Ministry

FILE – This undated file photo distributed by the North Korean government shows what was said to be the test launch of an intermediate range Hwasong-12 in North Korea. As North Korea steps up its nuclear weapons tests and threats, South Korea’s Unification Ministry faces an almost existential crisis. It wasn’t too long ago that the ministry was one of Seoul’s most powerful government departments. But the political sway is mostly gone after a decade that saw relations between the Koreas go from bad to worse.(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)