U.S. Vice President Harris criticised North Korea’s missile test and visits the demilitarised zone.

Just hours after the isolated nation tested missiles, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to denounce North Korea’s weapons tests in Seoul before her first trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the Koreas on Thursday.

During scheduled talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Harris, who arrived in the South Korean capital early on Thursday, will denounce North Korea’s most recent missile launch, a White House official said.

According to the official, she will also talk about changes to American electric vehicle subsidies, Japan’s trilateral relations, and China’s activities in the Taiwan Strait.

The visit to the demilitarised zone (DMZ) is designed to demonstrate the United States’ unshakeable commitment to South Korea’s security, according to aides, but it has gained urgency in light of Wednesday’s launch of two short-range ballistic missiles from North Korea.

The advisors to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden have been strengthening alliances to control China in the region, including with regard to Taiwan. However, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol stated in a CNN interview that was broadcast on Sunday that North Korea would be more likely to stage a provocation in a dispute over Taiwan and that the alliance should prioritise addressing that issue first.

The missile launch, which took place two days after South Korean and American forces conducted a military exercise in the waters outside South Korea, is the second since Sunday.

According to Kim Jong Un of North Korea, the country is creating nuclear weapons and missiles to counter American threats.

Harris described recent missile launches as being a part of a ‘illicit weapons programme that undermines regional stability and breaches several U.N. Security Council resolutions’ after a halt at a military installation in Japan.

The top Biden administration official Harris’ trip to the DMZ will likely come after a meeting with Yoon.

Former President Donald Trump became the first to have met a North Korean leader there when he held a third meeting with Kim Jong Un in 2019 as part of his unsuccessful attempt to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear and missile programmes. Several former U.S. presidents, including Biden himself before he became president, have ‘visited’ the DMZ.

The Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, giving rise to the DMZ, which is frequently referred to as the world’s final Cold War boundary.