SEOUL, Aug 4 ― US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her South Korean counterpart vowed today to support efforts to maintain a strong deterrence against North Korea and achieve its denuclearisation.

A joint statement was issued after Pelosi met South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo in Seoul, during which they expressed concerns over the North's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

Pelosi arrived in South Korea late yesterday following a brief stop in Taiwan, and met US embassy officials in Seoul earlier on Thursday before talks with Kim and other lawmakers.

Later on Thursday, Pelosi plans to visit the Joint Security Area near the heavily fortified inter-Korean border, patrolled together by American-led UN Command and North Korea, a South Korean official said.

She would be the highest-level US official to visit the area after former President Donald Trump, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un there in 2019. ― Reuters