Editor’s note: All North Koreans in the following story have been given pseudonyms.

“What about this Donald Trump guy?”

It was a fair question, but the last I expected from a North Korean.

Mr. Gang, I’ll call him, is a wealthy, middle-aged businessman from Pyongyang. We met outside the North a few weeks ago, waiting for the same flight. I was on my way to visit North Korea with a group tour, and Mr. Gang was headed home. He was glad to meet me, he said. I was the first American he’d ever spoken to, and the first Westerner he