When a pair of federal bills were introduced last year — one pressing for diplomatic talks to end the state of war between North Korea, South Korea, and the U.S., and the other urging the U.S. to prioritize Korean family reunification — a digital ad ran in Times Square warning that the bills would “Benefit North Korea and China” and “Dismantle the UN Command and Remove US Troops from S. Korea.”

The messengers? One Korea Network and the Korea Conservative Political Action Conference, wealthy pressure groups working to gin up tensions here and abroad. And as we highlight below in this edition of Weekend Reader, one Honolulu resident is the chief operative pulling the strings behind the scenes — and she may have a personal stake in the matter.

Read all about it in this week’s Weekend Reader, exclusively for supporting subscribers below.