Donald Trump is expected to travel to South Korea at the end of October, in what would be a brief stopover before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, according to officials familiar with the planning cited by the Yonhap News Agency.

People close to the discussions suggested that the US president could hold bilateral talks with his South Korean counterpart and with China’s Xi Jinping before the formal APEC proceedings open in Gyeongju on October 31. Diplomats cautioned, however, that Trump may depart before the summit’s main sessions conclude.

According to Yonhap, the stop in South Korea is anticipated to follow Trump’s attendance at the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur from October 26–28, after which he is scheduled to meet Japan’s new prime minister in Tokyo. His onward journey to Gyeongju is likely to be a one-day visit, though no departure date has been confirmed. Any journey to South Korea so soon after the mass arrests, detention at gunpoint, and deportation of hundreds of South Koreans from an LG factory in Georgia last month will not go down well with many, however. 

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already indicated that Trump and Xi will hold a brief meeting during the South Korea leg of the trip while offering no additional details.

Speculation about a potential encounter with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un on the margins of the APEC gathering has, however, been played down by ruling party officials, who described such a prospect as unlikely. There are already some in Japan and South Korea though who do believe such a meeting may be worked into Trump's schedule, if for nothing more than to back the president's ongoing efforts to be seen as a global peacemaker.