Damien Cave, our Australia bureau chief, shares insights on global news, local recommendations and feedback from readers in this weekly newsletter. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here.

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It’s arguably the biggest story in the Asia Pacific region: the standoff over North Korea and its weapons program.

To put the latest developments in context, I called Choe Sang-Hun, The New York Times’s correspondent in Seoul, South Korea. He’s been covering the Korean Peninsula for us since 2005, and on any given week, he writes a handful of news articles and analytical features, along with the occasional personal reflection.

Our discussion covered a lot of ground. I asked him about North Korea’s latest provocation, when it fired a missile over Japan; I asked about where Australia ranks in terms of North Korea’s priorities; and of course, we discussed President Trump and how he is viewed in the region.