A senior U.S. state department official said that while no indication of North Korea's "direct" military action targeting South Korea has been detected, the regime's threats have heightened amid increasing military cooperation with Russia.

Speaking to Yonhap News Agency on Friday, the State Department's Senior Official for North Korea, Jung Pak, said that the United States continues to monitor the situation and guard against risks to the South and Japan, major allies in the region.

Asked about the North's latest threatening rhetoric and acts escalating tensions in the region, Pak said the Pyongyang-Moscow military cooperation is a key difference compared to the regime's past provocative behavior.

The envoy said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un thinking that he has two supporters – China and Russia – is not an advisable development, reiterating the U.S. commitment to deterring "any kind of adventurism" from the North.

She said Washington will also continue to press Beijing to use its influence on Pyongyang and to constrain the regime's very inflammatory rhetoric and provocative actions.

While not getting into specifics of when the United States last offered dialogue to the North, the envoy said Washington makes overtures "on a regular basis" and that it will continue to seek and press for dialogue and Pyongyang's post-pandemic border reopening.