North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ignored recent peace overtures from Seoul but he’s due on Tuesday to hold a formal dialogue with his southern neighbor for the first time in more than two years.

The sudden interest in talks may have something to do with Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

“The North has made significant advances in its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons program so I think they feel a bit more willing to engage in talks now that they’ve actually demonstrated an incipient nuclear capability that can strike the U.S.,” said Taylor Fravel, associate political science professor at MIT.

Speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of the UBS Greater China Conference in Shanghai, Fravel said he isn’t expecting much from Tuesday’s discussion, which he believes will largely focus on potential North Korean participation at the Winter Olympics.

Kimhas said that he was open to sending a delegation to the sporting event in the South Korean city of PyeongChang. The first few days of the New Year were significant for inter-Korean relations, with South Korean President Moon Jae-In’s administration offering high-level talks to Pyongyang and the pariah state reopening its cross-border communications channel.

“The key thing to watch is whether or not there’s a second round of talks,” said Fravel, who’s also a member of the board of directors for the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. “Certainly, not very much can be resolved in one meeting … we’ll have to see just how far the North is willing to go.”

For now, expectations of North Korean provocation during the Olympics are low.

Kim is “clearly signalling a willingness not to disrupt the games and let them go forward,” said Fravel. This is still a Korean event — albeit a South Korean one — and inter-Korean unity is still important to North Korea, he added.