By Kang Seung-woo

Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, is expected to make a four-day trip to South Korea starting Aug. 21, according to a diplomatic source.

Sung Kim / Korea Times file

The visit would mark his second in two months since he took office in May. In June, he visited for talks with his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk.

His trip comes as Seoul and Washington kicked off their annual combined military exercises, Monday, which again drew a fiery response from Pyongyang last week.

In that sense, the timing of his visit is raising questions over whether the Joe Biden administration will offer enticements to North Korea in a bid to restart their stalled nuclear negotiations.

Despite high expectations, Kim only issued a mediocre conciliatory message on his first trip to Seoul as nuclear envoy, reiterating the U.S.'s previous stance of its willingness to meet with North Korea "anytime, anywhere without preconditions," which was not enough to draw a positive response from the North.

Apparent inter-Korean detente, brought back by the restoration of inter-Korean communications hotlines late last month, turned out to be short-lived, and the North Korean regime is expected to stage a military provocation to protest the joint drills, so Kim may bring a new message from President Biden for Pyongyang.

Last week, the North issued two statements warning that the totalitarian state will make the South and the U.S. regret their decision to hold the joint drills, stating they would face a "serious security crisis" due to their "wrong choice."

In addition, the North has refused to answer the South's telephone calls via the liaison and military hotlines since last Tuesday. The two Koreas had made calls twice a day since the lines were restored July 27.

In addition, while Kim is in town, Russia's nuclear envoy Igor Morgulov is also expected to travel here, which may lead to three-way talks on the North Korea nuclear issue.