If U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon realizes his plan to visit Pyongyang this week — reported Monday based on an unnamed U.N. source — it should serve to further the cause of reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula and contribute to North Korea’s denuclearization.

Since assuming the top post at the U.N., Ban, a former Korean foreign minister, has repeatedly said that he would do everything possible to promote inter-Korean reconciliation and a resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.

If the visit does take place, it would be Ban’s first visit to North Korea in his capacity as U.N. secretary-general. He was due to visit the Gaeseong Industrial Complex — an inter-Korean joint venture in the North Korean border town — in May when North Korea abruptly withdrew the invitation. Although Pyongyang never gave a clear reason for the cancelation of the trip, there is speculation that Ban’s remarks about North Korean missile launches angered the regime.

The anonymous U.N. source said that Ban was very likely to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Ban’s predecessors Kurt Waldheim and Boutros Boutros-Ghali met with then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung during their visits to Pyongyang in 1979 and 1993, respectively.

The report of Ban’s North Korea visit comes at a time when the isolated state is under mounting international pressure. Last week, the U.S. imposed sanctions on North Korea’s ambassador to Myanmar for weapons proliferation. North Korea is already under several U.N. sanctions for missile launches and nuclear tests. The U.N. General Assembly recently put forward a resolution which calls on the U.N. Security Council to refer North Korea’s human rights violations to the International Criminal Court. Last year, it adopted a landmark resolution that, for the first time, called for the referral of the issue to the ICC.

North Korea’s relations with China, its traditional ally and biggest benefactor, have also been less than smooth. A sign of strain between the two countries is the fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping has yet to meet North Korea’s Kim, even though he has visited Seoul and held several summits with President Park Geun-hye.

The Yonhap report cited an unnamed U.N. source who said that Ban would not return empty-handed, adding that the trip could be an important opportunity for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and other issues pertaining to the Korean Peninsula.

With no progress being made in the South-North high-level talks that were pledged at the end of marathon negotiations in August that defused heightened military tension along the Demilitarized Zone, Ban’s visit may serve as a catalyst for an inter-Korean reconciliation. While the August negotiation culminated in a number of agreements, so far only a family reunion has actually come to fruition, and Pyongyang has rebuffed Seoul’s repeated offers of preparatory meetings for the high-level talks.

Under growing international pressure, Kim may want to use Ban’s visit as a sign that the country is ready to come out of isolation. However, Kim should go beyond symbolic gestures and make firm commitments to play by international laws and norms. While it is difficult to foresee what results, if any, Ban’s visit may yield, he should not allow North Korea to exploit the visit as a photo op and propaganda tool.