*

U.S. vice president holds talks with S.Korean president

*

N.Korea fires two ballistic missiles after Harris departs

*

Harris visits heavily armed Korean border

*

China's actions in the Taiwan Strait on the agenda

(Updates with N.Korea missile launch)

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Hyonhee Shin

PANMUNJOM, South Korea, Sept 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said North Korea is a country with a "brutal dictatorship", an illegal arms programme and rampant human rights violations, issuing unusually strong criticism during a visit to the inter-Korean border on Thursday.

Soon after Harris wrapped up her Asia trip, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles from north of its capital, Pyongyang, late on Thursday in the direction of her flight from South Korea, the third such launch in five days.

Harris, in her first visit to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, said the heavily armed border area offered a stark reminder of the "dramatically different paths" the two sides have taken.

"In the North, we see a brutal dictatorship, rampant human rights violations and an unlawful weapons program that threatens peace and stability," Harris said.

"The United States and the world seek a stable and peaceful Korean peninsula where the DPRK is no longer a threat," she said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Harris was in the DMZ after arriving in the South Korean capital, Seoul, early on Thursday amid simmering regional tension over North Korea's missile launches and China's actions in the Taiwan Strait.

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles from north of Pyongyang into the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said, about two hours after Harris' flight departed for Washington.

The missiles flew about 300 km (186.4 miles) reaching a maximum altitude of 50 km (31 miles), Japan's Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada said, indicating they were likely short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM).

The visit by Harris came amid fears that North Korea is about to conduct a nuclear test. South Korean officials say North Korea has completed preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test and its first since 2017.

Harris and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held talks and condemned North Korea's intensifying nuclear rhetoric and a series of missile tests, the latest of which was conducted on Wednesday.

"They condemned the DPRK's provocative nuclear rhetoric and ballistic missile launches," a White House statement said. "They discussed our response to potential future provocations, including through trilateral cooperation with Japan."