The North Korean nuclear issue after a long stalemate has entered a new phase in 2018. North Korea has been continuously pressing forward its nuclear and missile tests under the Byungjin Line – simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force. Contrastingly, in 2018, it conveyed its will to denuclearize while participating in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and launching a new national strategy of ‘All-out Concentration Policy for Economic Building’. As a proof of this transition, three inter-Korean summits were held in 2018 alone, and on the June 12th, the North Korea–United States summit has also taken place for the very first time in the history. Nevertheless, the North Korea-United States relations had reached a stalemate due to collapse of the Hanoi summit in February 2019 followed by the Stockholm negotiation breakdown in October. Exacerbating the stalemate situation was an unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19, which further obfuscated the prospect for solution of the North Korean nuclear crisis. With the US presidential elections on the horizon, the session will take in the opinions of experts on the essence and sustainable solution for the North Korean nuclear crisis, which, once again, reached a critical juncture.