“A house divided cannot stand,” I said to the gentleman across from me in the Firestone waiting area. We had talked for over an hour as we watched the news on TV. It didn’t seem that long as we shared several things in common: an interest in history, gratitude for having grown up and lived in the United States, mutual displeasure with current events, and even a common Latino background. Notably, however, we differed in age, him being at least 30 years my senior. Until I said those words, the conversation was light, casual, and easygoing.

The respected journal Foreign Affairs recently published an article on the emerging role of “middle powers” (“Can Middle Powers Lead the World Out of the Pandemic?,” June 18, 2020).

About a year ago, there appeared to be a thaw in the perpetually tense relationship between North and South Korea, stirring hope for increased unity between the two countries. However, last week North Korea “blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in its city of Kaesong”—an office built in 2018 that was used for inter-Korean meetings (Deutsche Welle, June 16, 2020).