Vice-president Harris to visit heavily armed border between North and South Korea

The US vice-president Kamala Harris is going to visit the heavily armed border between North Korea and South Korea on Thursday, amid rising tensions on the peninsula.

Harris will arrive at the Demilitarised zone DMZ on the southern side of the border, days after the regime in Pyongyang warned that South Korea and the US could trigger a conflict after the launch of large-scale naval exercises for the first time in five years.

A White House official said Harris' visit to the DMZ will underscore the United States commitment to stand beside South Korea in the face of threats from North Korea.

Harris is the most senior member of the US administration to go to the inter-Korean border since Donald Trump walked across the border to North Korea during a meeting with the country's leader Kim Jong-un in 2019.

She will reflect on the shared sacrifice of tens of thousands of US and Korean soldiers killed in the 1950 -- 53 Korean war, which ended with a ceasefire but not a peace treaty, tour sites at the DMZ, and receive an operational briefing from US commanders, the official said.

North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, including one with an intercontinental ballistic missile that was fired at full range for the first time since 2017.

The US and South Korean officials have warned for months that Pyongyang might conduct its seventh nuclear test, while analysts have said that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, may wait until after the Chinese Communist Party national congress begins on 16 October.

North Korea has always avoided doing anything to embarrass China, its biggest ally and trading partner.

The Washington and Seoul officials have promised a swift response to any nuclear test.

The North stated that it is determined to develop more sophisticated weapons with the launch of a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday.

The launch came a day before the US and South Korea, where 28,500 American troops are based, began joint drills involving the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group off the Korean peninsula's east coast.

On Wednesday, Harris, who attended the state funeral for Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, was due to address US sailors in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, before flying to South Korea.

She was expected to repeat Washington's commitment to Japan's security, and warn China against aggressive moves towards Taiwan, days after the US president Joe Biden said that the US would defend the island if China tried to invade.

A senior administration official said she will get into threats to the international rules-based order and how she sees them, including recent provocations across the Taiwan strait.

She will speak about that and what we are doing to push back against those efforts and stand up for the international rules and norms that have guided this region. Harris DMZ visit will be the first visit by a high-ranking US official since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went in August, prompting the North to condemn her as the worst destroyer of international peace.