If visits to Mount Paektu are symbolic gestures, the Central Committee meeting is the traditional venue where Mr. Kim typically adopts major policy shifts.

In one such meeting in 2013, Mr. Kim declared the byongjin — or “parallel” and simultaneous — pursuit of economic growth and a nuclear arsenal. In a meeting in April 2018, two months before his first meeting with Mr. Trump, he declared that since he had completed his nuclear force, he would adopt a “new strategic line” of focusing entirely on economic growth.

But as Mr. Kim’s diplomacy with Mr. Trump faltered, North Korea warned this year that its leader would find “a new way,” signaling that there would be another major policy shift.

The upcoming Central Committee meeting could see Mr. Kim “declaring an end to denuclearization talks and reaffirming his country’s status as a nuclear power,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior North Korea specialist at the Sejong Institute in South Korea.

Mr. Cheong said it was noteworthy that Mr. Kim chose top military leaders to accompany him on the trip to Mount Paektu, a visit captured in dozens of photos released by the North’s state media. Although Mr. Kim has visited Mount Paektu or Samjiyon nine times since taking power, this trip was the first time he was accompanied mainly by top military field commanders, analysts said.

“This signals that Kim Jong-un is likely to start paying more attention to the military and focus on strengthening ​its power,” Mr. Cheong said.