South Korean officials will face a challenge as tough as any Olympic feat this week: Drawing the North Koreans back to talks without undermining the U.S.’s hard line against Kim Jong Un. The neighbors are slated to hold their first high-level meeting in more than two years at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Panmunjom, a border village where the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953. The talks — focused primarily on North Korea joining next month’s Winter Olympics in nearby Pyeongchang — are the best chance to resurrect negotiations on Kim’s nuclear weapons program since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. They also represent a moment of risk for an alliance that has endured since the Korean War. While President Moon Jae-in has long favored engagement with North Korea — and set no limits on the meeting’s agenda — he doesn’t want to endanger American-led efforts to isolate Kim until the North Korean leader agrees to abandon his nuclear weapons program. Those competing interests restrain what Moon can offer beyond cooperation in the Olympics. Some possible enticements, such as reopening a jointly run industrial park and resuming tourism to North Korea, could undercut United Nations sanctions that were tightened just a few weeks ago. Both Moon and Kim will be able to listen in on the discussions, and intervene if needed, according to a South Korean government official, who asked not to be identified. Moon’s government doesn’t know what North Korea wants from talks, according to three South Korean government officials. In addition to the Olympics, South Korea plans to talk about opening a dialogue with the North Korean military and reuniting separated families, Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae Hyun told reporters in Seoul on Monday. Both measures were proposed by Moon last year.

“For the South, it’s important to defend its red line of not damaging the UN sanctions,” said Shin Beomchul, a professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy and a former director general for policy planning at the foreign ministry. “The North may try to add what’s on its wish list, such as humanitarian aid and economic cooperation.” Kim, who called for talks in a New Year’s address, has vowed to never surrender his nuclear arsenal, which makes any U.S.-backed regime-change effort like those in Iraq and Libya far more dangerous. A commentary published Sunday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency described improved ties with Seoul as a “crucial matter” and warned that “depending on foreign powers” could complicate talks.

‘Big Start’

Trump and other U.S. officials have so far expressed support for the dialogue while playing down the prospect of a bigger breakthrough. He saw the talks as evidence that sanctions against Kim targeting oil imports and much of the country’s export revenue were working. “Right now, they’re talking Olympics. It’s a start. It’s a big start,” Trump told reporters on Saturday. The president said it would be “great for humanity” if something more resulted, even suggesting he could meet Kim under the right conditions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Associated Press that it could be an important breakthrough or simply a meeting “about the Olympics and nothing else happens.” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the NHK network on Sunday that “talks for the sake of talks are meaningless.” Neither South Korea nor the U.S. want any disruptions during the Olympics in Pyeongchang, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the heavily fortified border. At Moon’s request, Trump delayed annual joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises until after the Paralympic Games end March 18.

Figure Skating

North Korea has long pushed for the U.S. and South Korea to cancel joint military exercises altogether, and Kim has called on the allies to refrain from bringing “aggressive forces” into the region. The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier is expected to arrive near the Korean Peninsula ahead of the Olympics, Yonhap News reported Monday, citing the U.S. Navy. Moon is preparing a wide range of Olympics options, including everything from forming a single cheering squad to fielding a joint team and making North Korea a co-host, South Korea’s JTBC cable station reported last week. A North Korean official told reporters in Beijing that two North Korean figure skaters may compete, Japan’s Kyodo News reported.

On Friday, Moon said the Olympics talks would bode well for eventual negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea, even as he pledged to be firm with Kim’s regime. “I won’t stand too weak in front of North Korea only to gain a dialogue opportunity like we did in the past,” Moon said.