North Korea’s defence minister No Kwang Chol threatened on Saturday to take “more offensive action” as he condemned U.S. security talks with Seoul and the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier in South Korea.

A day earlier, North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast, after denouncing on Thursday fresh U.S. sanctions against North Korean individuals and entities that Washington said were involved in cyber-related money-laundering schemes, Reuters reported.

South Korea’s defence ministry on Saturday condemned the missile launch, while saying the North’s criticism of the U.S.-South Korea meeting was regrettable.

No criticised a recent visit by U.S. and South Korean defence chiefs to the border between North and South Korea, as well as their subsequent security talks in Seoul, alleging they were conspiring to step up deterrence efforts towards the North and to integrate their nuclear and conventional forces.

“This is a stark revelation and an unveiled intentional expression of their hostile nature to stand against the DPRK to the end,” No said, referring to the country’s formal name – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday the core of the alliance with Seoul will remain focused on deterring North Korea, although Washington will look at flexibility for U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to operate against regional threats.

No also said the visit of the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington to South Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan this week following U.S.-South Korean joint air drills with Seoul had escalated tensions on the peninsula.

“We will show more offensive action against the enemies’ threat on the principle of ensuring security and defending peace by dint of powerful strength,” No said, according to North Korean state media KCNA.

South Korea’s navy said the carrier’s visit was to replenish supplies and grant leave for the crew.

While visiting South Korea last week, U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his willingness to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. No meeting took place, but Trump said he was willing to return to the region to meet Kim.

Last week, North Korea also test-fired cruise missiles to the west of the Korean peninsula just as Trump and other leaders were set to gather in South Korea for regional meetings.

Regarding the latest missile launch, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said on Saturday that it “does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies”.

“The missile launch highlights the destabilising impact” of North Korea’s actions, it added.

The United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel, Reuters reported citing sources familiar with the matter.

The U.S. plans for the presence in the Syrian capital, which have not previously been reported, would be a sign of Syria’s strategic realignment with the U.S. following the fall last year of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran.

The base sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarised zone as part of a non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria. That deal is being mediated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

TRUMP SET TO MEET SYRIAN PRESIDENT ON MONDAY

Trump will meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House on Monday, the first such visit by a Syrian head of state.

Reuters spoke to six sources familiar with preparations at the base, including two Western officials and a Syrian defence official, who confirmed the U.S. was planning to use the base to help monitor a potential Israel-Syria agreement.

After publication, a Syrian foreign ministry source denied the Reuters report, saying it was “false”, state news agency SANA reported late on Thursday.

The source did not elaborate on what was false.

“Work is underway to transfer the partnerships and understandings that were necessarily made with provisional entities to Damascus, within the framework of joint political, military and economic coordination,” SANA added, citing the source.

The Pentagon and Syrian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the plan. The Syrian presidency and defence ministry did not immediately respond to questions about the plan sent via the Syrian information ministry.

A U.S. administration official said the U.S. was “constantly evaluating our necessary posture in Syria to effectively combat ISIS (Islamic State) and (we) do not comment on locations or possible locations of (where) forces operate.”

The official requested that the name and location of the base be removed for operational security reasons. Reuters has agreed to not reveal the exact location.

A Western military official said the Pentagon had accelerated its plans over the last two months with several reconnaissance missions to the base. Those missions concluded the base’s long runway was ready for immediate use.

Two Syrian military sources said the technical talks have been focused on the use of the base for logistics, surveillance, refueling and humanitarian operations, while Syria would retain full sovereignty over the facility.

A Syrian defence official said the U.S. had flown to the base in military C-130 transport aircraft to make sure the runway was usable. A security guard at one of the base’s entrances told Reuters that American aircraft were landing there as part of “tests”.

It was not immediately clear when U.S. military personnel would be dispatched to the base.

JOINT SYRIAN-AMERICAN PRESENCE

The new U.S. plans appear to mirror two other new U.S. military presences in the region monitoring cessation of hostilities agreements: one in Lebanon, which closely watches last year’s ceasefire between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel, and one in Israel that monitors the Trump-era truce between Palestinian military group Hamas and Israel.

The U.S. already has troops stationed in northeastern Syria, as part of a decade-long effort to help a Kurdish-led force there combat Islamic State. In April, the Pentagon said it would halve the number of troops there to 1,000.

Sharaa has said any U.S. troop presence should be agreed with the new Syrian state. Syria is set to imminently join the U.S.-led global anti-ISIS coalition, U.S. and Syrian officials say.

A person familiar with the talks over the base said the move was discussed during a trip by Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), to Damascus on September 12.

A CENTCOM statement at the time said Cooper and U.S. envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack had met Sharaa and thanked him for contributing to the fight against Islamic State in Syria, which it said could help accomplish Trump’s “vision of a prosperous Middle East and a stable Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors.” The statement did not mention Israel.

The U.S. has been working for months to reach a security pact between Israel and Syria, two longtime foes. It had hoped to announce a deal at the United Nations General Assembly in September but talks hit a last-minute snag.

A Syrian source familiar with the talks told Reuters that Washington was exerting pressure on Syria to reach a deal before the end of the year, and possibly before Sharaa’s trip to Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday he planned to visit the five Central Asian countries in the coming year, as he met their foreign ministers as part of a Trump administration charm offensive aimed at the resource-rich region.

The presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday for talks that are likely to include discussions of rare earths minerals and other resources in the Central Asian nations, Reuters reported.

Rubio told a reception at the State Department that U.S. interests and those of the Central Asian states were aligned when it comes to working together to develop the countries’ natural resources.

“You are looking to take the resources … that God has blessed your nations with, and turn them into responsible development that allow you to diversify your economies,” Rubio said.

“I personally intend to visit in the coming year,” he added.

“All five (countries),” he said, “so I know it would probably be a week-long trip. So we’ve got to work on that and make that happen together.”

Rich in minerals and energy, the five overwhelmingly Muslim countries of Central Asia remain closely tied economically to Russia, which ruled the region as part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Neighboring China also enjoys significant commercial influence.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who spoke before Rubio, said Trump had invited the five leaders to Washington as part of a personal push by the president to engage more actively with the region.

Landau and Sergio Gor, the U.S. ambassador to India and Trump’s special envoy to Central Asia, visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan last week to prepare agreements to be announced during the leaders’ visit.

“The opportunities are amazing – business opportunities. Many ways to partner there,” Landau said.

Senator James Risch, a Republican, who also spoke at the reception, announced he would introduce a bill to Congress this week aimed at repealing the Jackson–Vanik trade rules introduced during the Cold War era that restrict U.S. trade with non-market economies.