- Pakistan 'vigilantes' behind rise in online blasphemy cases
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- Smith experiment as Test opener over, Green out of India series
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Dodgers crush Mets 9-0 in MLB playoff series opener
- South Korea military says 'fully ready' as drone tensions soar
- Cummins back, Marsh and Head out of Pakistan ODI series
- Shanghai stocks swing after stimulus briefing as most of Asia rises
- New Zealand's Latham promises 'no fear' as he takes charge for India Tests
- Kyrgios vows to 'shut up' doubters with December comeback
- Public hearings start into death of Brit by Russian nerve agent
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- 'Stolen satire' feeds US election misinformation
- Rookie McCarty captures first PGA Tour title in Black Desert Championship
- Australia all-rounder Green ruled out of India Test series
- Seeing double in Nigeria's 'twins capital of the world'
- UK FM to attend EU foreign affairs talks for first time in 2 years
- Carter, Billups among 13 new Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
- Ravens rip Commanders as Lions lose NFL sacks leader in win
- Hezbollah drone strike kills four, wounds dozens at Israeli base
- China says launches military drills around Taiwan
- Stewart leads Liberty past Lynx to level WNBA Finals
- England return to winning ways in Nations League, Austria thrash Norway
- UN chief says attacks on UNIFIL 'may constitute a war crime'
- Ravens outlast Commanders while Bucs batter Saints in NFL
- Dozens hurt in Israel as Hezbollah claims drone strike
- England deserve 'world class' coach: Carsley
- Burkina Faso win to become first qualifiers for 2025 AFCON
- AC Milan's Pulisic among five out for USA match in Mexico
- France's Amandine Henry retires from international football
- Centre-left set to win pro-Ukraine Lithuania's vote
- India's World Cup hopes in Pakistan hands after Australia defeat
- Zelensky says NKorea sending troops to Russian army
- England beat Finland to get back on track
- King and Lewis propel West Indies to T20 triumph over Sri Lanka
- Pre-Halloween 'Terrifier' lands atop North America box office
- 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic
- Harris, Trump seek advantage in knife-edge election battle
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record in Chicago
- Kamindu and Asalanka power Sri Lanka to 179 against West Indies
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record as Korir wins in Chicago
- Spain send injured Yamal home 'to prioritise player's health'
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Iraq walks fine line with pro-Iran factions to avoid war
- Race four abandoned after New Zealand breeze into 3-0 lead in America's Cup
- West Indies win toss, put Sri Lanka in to bat in first T20
- Sudan rescuers say air strike killed 23 in Khartoum market
- Netanyahu tells UN to move Lebanon peacekeepers out of 'harm's way'
US, S.Korea warn of swift reply if N.Korea conducts nuclear test
The United States and South Korea warned Monday of a swift response if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, including US military "adjustments," but again offered talks as a way out.
The two allies say that North Korea could at any time test its first nuclear weapon since 2017, after months of escalating tensions including missile tests and Pyongyang's rebuffing of overtures from President Joe Biden's administration.
Meeting his South Korean counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States was working with allies in Tokyo and Seoul "to be able to respond quickly should the North Koreans proceed with such a test."
"And we are prepared to make both short- and longer-term adjustments to our military posture as appropriate," he said.
"Until the regime in Pyongyang changes course, we will continue to keep the pressure on."
But Blinken reiterated the United States has "no hostile intent" toward the North, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"We'll continue to reach out to the DPRK. We're committed to pursuing a diplomatic approach," Blinken said.
Both Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin said their government was ready to negotiate with Pyongyang "without preconditions."
But Blinken acknowledged there had been no response from North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong Un held three headline-grabbing summits with Biden's predecessor Donald Trump.
The Trump-Kim pageantry reduced tensions but produced no lasting agreement on the North's nuclear program and Biden has indicated that any talks with his administration would be at a lower level.
Some North Korea watchers have seen a potential diplomatic opening in Pyongyang's admission last month that it has an outbreak of Covid-19.
Blinken again said the United States was ready to send vaccines to North Korea, after a previous offer from Biden went ignored.
- 'Only political decision' left -
Park said that Kim was at a "crossroads" on whether to carry out another test and invite further international isolation and sanctions.
"I think that North Korea has now finished the preparation for another nuclear test and I think only political decision has to be made," Park said.
The United States attempted to tighten sanctions on North Korea after it tested an intercontinental ballistic in defiance of UN resolutions but China and Russia vetoed the bid at the Security Council.
Park said that China, the North's primary ally, "should play a very positive role to persuade North Korea" against a nuclear test.
South Korea's new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, is a conservative who campaigned on a tougher approach than his dovish predecessor Moon Jae-in but has also offered talks.
"We are prepared to take a more flexible and open-minded approach to diplomacy vis-a-vis North Korea," he said.
Park also promised to improve cooperation with Japan, a fellow US ally whose relations with Seoul have long been tense over the legacies of Tokyo's brutal 1910-1945 colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula.
The Moon administration in 2019 said it would terminate a key intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, known as the GSOMIA, although it agreed at the last minute to extend it "conditionally" after alarm in Washington.
"We want GSOMIA to be normalized as soon as possible, together with the improvement of the Korea-Japan relationship, in order to deal with the threat from North Korea," Park said.
L.Miller--AMWN