▲ South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong (R) shakes hands with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman during their meeting at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo on Oct. 25, 2022. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) vice FM-Japan visit

(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. discuss N. Korea's threats amid speculation on nuke test

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout; REPLACES photo)

By Chang Dong-woo

SEOUL/TOKYO, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States held high-level consultations Tuesday on North Korea's saber-rattling, especially Washington's commitment to extended deterrence for Seoul.

Cho Hyun-dong, Seoul's vice foreign minister, met with his U.S. counterpart, Wendy Sherman, at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo to discuss ways to deal with North Korea's evolving threats highlighted by a series of ballistic missile launches in recent weeks.

"The two countries will solidify our deterrence against North Korea with overwhelming capabilities through a firm South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture and security cooperation," Cho told reporters at the outset of the meeting.

He also reiterated a warning that North Korea will face an "overwhelming and decisive response" when it uses a nuclear weapon.

Sherman characterized North Korea's continued provocations as being "deeply irresponsible, dangerous and destabilizing."

"We will use the full range of U.S. defense capabilities to defend our allies, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities," she said.

This week's session comes amid growing concerns that the North's Kim Jong-un regime may soon conduct another nuclear test and carry out additional provocative acts.

Officials in Seoul say the secretive North is apparently all set for its first nuclear test since September 2017.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said the North may carry out its seventh nuclear test between Oct. 16 and Nov. 7, after the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and before the U.S. midterm elections.

Cho and Sherman exchanged views on the regional security situation following China's key party congress meeting, in which President Xi Jinping secured a third term, according to an informed source.

Cho plans to hold a separate one-on-one meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Takeo Mori, later in the day with a plan for three-way talks Wednesday. They had the previous trilateral meeting in Seoul in June.

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