The author is an editorial writer and the director of the Unification and Culture Research Institute of the JoongAng Ilbo.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stopped all public activity for five days from Oct. 25 to 29. The pause came during a busy period as Pyongyang marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party on Oct. 10. China's Premier Li Qiang and Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, attended the central military parade. To Lam, general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith also visited Pyongyang. Kim met each delegation and pledged to expand cooperation.



Kim used the occasion to widen North Korea's diplomatic engagement. He also packed the month with 27 public activities, including the Defense Development 2025 weapons exhibition and the completion ceremony for Pyongyang General Hospital. In the midst of this schedule, he disappeared for five days, prompting speculation that he needed time for political deliberation. He has, in the past, withdrawn from view before decisions involving summit meetings with Seoul or Washington.

One striking detail is the timing. Kim's absence coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump's tour of Asia. Trump departed Washington on Oct. 24 local time and said he would like to meet Kim Jong-un, adding that the North Korean leader knew he was going to be there. Kim stopped public activity soon after that remark and reappeared only after Trump left Korea. During stops in Malaysia, Japan and Korea, Trump referred to Pyongyang as a nuclear power and stressed that he still held sanctions leverage. His comments seemed crafted with Kim's past statements in mind, including Kim's Sept. 21 speech at the Supreme People's Assembly in which he said there would be "no reason not to face each other if the United States abandons its demand for denuclearization." Trump may also have been recalling how desperately Kim sought sanctions relief at the 2019 Hanoi summit. Trump hinted that he might extend his stay in Korea, but a meeting never materialized.

Trump has repeatedly invoked the memory of his 2019 Panmunjom encounter with Kim. That meeting grew out of a single tweet Trump posted before leaving Japan: "I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!" Kim rushed to the border village, where the two held a brief summit. Though it looked spontaneous, Trump had explored the idea days earlier with senior U.S. State Department officials, who warned that contact channels with Pyongyang were limited. Trump then turned to the CIA. The agency pointed to the hotline between the United Nations Command and the North Korean military at Panmunjom, known colloquially as the "pink phone." North Korea responded through that channel with a condition: It would meet only if then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in did not attend.

It is still unclear whether any direct contact was made through the same channel this time. Yet during a parliamentary intelligence briefing on Nov. 4, Seoul's National Intelligence Service reported that Pyongyang had seriously considered a last-minute summit with Trump. North Korea even reviewed whether to adjust the overseas travel schedule of Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who was visiting Russia and Belarus from Oct. 26 to 28. According to the NIS, Pyongyang analyzed the backgrounds of U.S. officials who would accompany Trump if a summit took place.

A meeting during Trump's visit would likely have dominated global headlines. Some foreign outlets, including CNN, reportedly prepared for live broadcasts from Imjingak near the demilitarized zone, which had been floated as a possible venue. For North Korea, such an encounter could have overshadowed the APEC summit in Gyeongju and put Kim center stage. Trump had already hinted at recognizing North Korea's nuclear status and sign...