US President Donald Trump has shown no sign of changing his country’s long-standing position that there will be no peace talks until the North takes irreversible steps towards denuclearisation. But Kim’s regime refuses to accede and has taken advantage of the status quo to improve its missiles and, presumably, miniaturise nuclear warheads.

A missile shield being constructed by the US in South Korea does not guarantee protection and worse, has damaged relations with Beijing, which is understandably angry about the spying capabilities of the system. Trump wants China to exert more pressure on the North, but it has done all it is willing to. A treaty to finally end the 1950-53 Korean war with an agreement limiting arms is the best chance to halt hostilities.

Pyongyang considers Washington the biggest threat to its survival. But it is willing to negotiate, as the deal struck with Malaysia proves. Last Friday, the North allowed nine Malaysians, most of them diplomats, to go home in return for the body of Kim’s estranged half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, and the exit of North Koreans who had been barred from leaving Malaysia. It took more than three weeks of bargaining, but an amicable agreement was eventually reached.

Malaysia is among a handful of nations to have good ties with the North. Pyongyang’s relations with Washington could not be worse: they only signed an armistice in 1953 and are technically still at war. No government wants another such conflict; talks with the aim of signing a treaty are the best way forward.