Chinese and South Korean companies signed nine cooperation agreements, authorities said on Monday, during a state visit by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing,

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected several ballistic missile launches from North Korea's capital region around 7:50 a.m. It stated that the missiles flew approximately 560 miles and that South Korean and U.S. authorities were analyzing the details of the launches.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will meet Monday with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, with closer economic ties as well as the recalcitrant North on the agenda.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his meeting with Xi on Monday came a day after the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea's state media released photos Thursday of what it said was the hull of a nuclear submarine. Its leader denounced South Korea's plans to build its own subs as "an offensive act."

North Korea displayed apparent progress in the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, with state media photos showing a largely completed hull as leader Kim Jong Un condemned rival South Korea’s