SEOUL – South Korea says its in talks about holding joint drills with a US aircraft carrier strike group, as US President Donald Trump called the leaders of Japan and China amid fears North Korea could conduct another nuclear test.

Trump is due to call Chinese President Xi Jinping after talking with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Reclusive North Korea said at the weekend it was ready to sink the US aircraft carrier, which Trump had ordered to waters off the Korean peninsula as a warning to the North.

Japan said on Sunday it had sent two Japanese destroyers to join the carrier group, led by the USS Carl Vinson, for drills.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump pose for a photograph before attending dinner at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, February 11, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

Abe described his conversation with Trump as a “thorough exchange of views”.

“We agreed to strongly demand that North Korea, which is repeating its provocation, show restraint,” Abe told reporters.

“We will maintain close contact with the United States, keep a high level of vigilance and respond firmly,” he said.

Abe also said he and Trump agreed that China, North Korea‘s neighbour and sole major ally, should play a large role in dealing with Pyongyang.

A Japanese official said the phone call between Trump and Abe was not prompted by any specific change in the situation.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un cuts a ribbon during a ceremony in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on April 16, 2017. (Photo: KCNA/via Reuters)

Tensions have risen sharply in recent months, with Washington and its allies fearing Pyongyang could conduct another nuclear missile test or launch more ballistic missiles in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

North Korea celebrates the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People’s Army on Tuesday, and has marked similar events in the past with nuclear tests or missile launches.

The US government has not specified where the carrier strike group is, but US Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday it would arrive “within days”.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) are driven past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country’s founding father Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang April 15, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun gave no further details about the South’s plans, other than saying Seoul was holding discussions with the US Navy.

“I can say the South Korean and US militaries are fully ready for North Korea‘s nuclear test,” Moon said.

South Korean and US officials have feared for some time that North Korea could soon carry out its sixth nuclear test.

Satellite imagery analysed by 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project, found some activity under way at North Korea‘s Punggye-ri nuclear test site last week.

However, the group said it was unclear whether the site was in a “tactical pause” before another test or was carrying out normal operations.

Adding to the heightened tensions, North Korea detained a US citizen on Saturday as he attempted to leave the country.

– Reuters