Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Kim Jong-un and S. Korean Assembly speaker may cross paths in China
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects sniper and special forces units at a covert operations training base under the General Staff Department of the Korean People’s Army, Wednesday, in this image released by Korean Central Television, Thursday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
N. Korean leader's Beijing trip could include meeting with Putin
As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un prepares to attend China’s Victory Day celebration on Wednesday, speculation is mounting over whether he could cross paths with Woo Won-shik, South Korea’s National Assembly speaker, who will also be in Beijing for the event.
It would mark the first time under President Lee Jae Myung that senior figures from both Koreas appear on the same stage.
The ceremony, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia, is expected to draw more than two dozen heads of state, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. For Kim, it will be his first multilateral appearance in six years, after a stretch of intense focus on ties with Moscow.
Beijing initially inquired about the attendance of South Korea’s president, but Seoul, after consultations with Washington and wary of sending mixed signals about alliance priorities, chose to send the Assembly speaker instead. The decision puts him in the unusual position of sharing a stage with the North's leader.
Although a handshake would carry great symbolic significance, analysts say it remains unlikely. North Korea continues to define the South as a “hostile state” and has blocked inter-Korean dialogue.
“It is more likely that their paths will be kept separate, with seating and movements designed to avoid any contact whatsoever,” said Oh Kyung-seop, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Nevertheless, the possibility of Woo and Kim appearing together has generated considerable interest in Seoul. A brief exchange could provide the Lee administration with visible progress toward its goal of reviving inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea dialogue.
Analysts view Kim’s visit as part of a broader strategy.
“Kim’s trip has multiple objectives — improving ties with China, offsetting the need for a separate trip to Russia by meeting Putin there and reinforcing trilateral cooperation with Beijing and Moscow while sidelining Seoul,” said Doo Jin-ho, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. He noted that Kim could still follow up with a visit to Moscow after Beijing.
According to Doo, the trip also demonstrates “confidence that North Korea-Russia relations are already stable,” while Putin, who is dealing with his war on Ukraine and political pressure, could exploit Kim’s presence to bolster an authoritarian alliance.
Looking ahead, Doo suggested that the North Korean leader could attempt to break his country’s isolation by cultivating ties with developing nations and potentially joining organizations led by Beijing and Moscow, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
“This risks further entrenching a new Cold War, with a U.S.-Japan-South Korea alignment on one side and a China-Russia-North Korea bloc on the other,” he warned.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik delivers a memorial address during a ceremony marking the 16th anniversary of former President Kim Dae-jung’s death at Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak District, Seoul, Aug. 18. Yonhap
Pyongyang’s selective silence
Kim’s diplomatic move coincides with a resurgence of hostility toward Seoul.
On Wednesday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency criticized Lee’s remarks on denuclearization during his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, dismissing them as the delusions of a “hypocrite afflicted with denuclearization mania.”
The statement criticized Lee’s speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in which he emphasized the importance of both Koreas honoring their nonproliferation commitments. However, noticeably absent was any criticism of Trump, who had echoed the South Korean president’s call for dialogue and expressed a willingness to meet Kim later this year.
“North Korea’s ultimate goal is to be recognized as a nuclear state,” said Eom Hyo-sik, secretary general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum. “They see Seoul as a follower of U.S. policy, making dialogue pointless. But Trump, who has spoken of the North as a de facto nuclear power, is viewed as someone who could deliver what they want.”
Eom added that Pyongyang’s unusually sharp tone toward Lee — branding him a hypocrite and mocking the South as a “poor but fierce neighbor” — was intended as a preemptive pressure.
“They are signaling that the South has no leverage, while keeping the door open to the U.S.,” he explained.
Kang Hoon-sik, presidential chief of staff, noted that the government had been aware of the latest developments.
“Even the recent [South] Korea-U.S. summit was inevitably influenced by these circumstances,” he said, adding that “some of the progress made at the summit can be seen as part of this broader trend.”
Eyes on APEC
Trump has said he hopes to meet the North Korean leader before the end of the year, possibly on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in late October and early November. Eom called such a meeting realistic.
“There is a strong chance of an informal U.S.-North Korea summit around APEC,” he said. “Trump could stage a surprise meeting at Panmunjeom or elsewhere, just as he did before with a single tweet. It would require little effort on his part, but could help him project the image of a peacemaker — and perhaps revive talk of a Nobel Prize.”
However, such a development would pose challenges for Seoul. If Trump and Kim resume direct talks, South Korea risks being sidelined.
“The government must prevent a repeat of past episodes in which Washington and Pyongyang excluded Seoul,” Eom stressed. “That means building deeper trust with Trump so he cannot shape North Korea policy alone. Otherwise, [South] Korea risks being sidelined again.”
As the Victory Day event draws closer, the prospect of Woo and Kim sharing the same stage highlights the difficult position Seoul finds itself in. For Lee, experts believe the occasion offers both opportunity and risk: an opportunity to demonstrate openness to dialogue, but also a reminder that South Korea could quickly be bypassed if Pyongyang and Washington choose to act on their own terms.