North Korea Sunday fired two ballistic missiles into the sea, Seoul's military said, in an apparent show of force ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the South.

The North fired the missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) Sunday morning, a defense ministry official told Agence France Presse. 

China's Xi Jinping will visit Seoul next week, both sides said Friday, going to the South for his first presidential journey to the Korean peninsula as Beijing's frustrations mount with the nuclear-armed North and its confrontational young leader Kim Jong-Un.

China is the North's key ally, energy provider and diplomatic protector, their ties sealed in the Korean War, and sees its neighbor as a buffer against finding U.S. troops stationed on its own border.

North Korea announced Friday the successful test of a new high-precision, tactical guided missile, as its army threatened a "devastating" retaliation against South Korea for carrying out live fire drills near their maritime border.

The launch of the "cutting-edge" missile was watched by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, according to the North's official KCNA news agency, which hailed the test as a "breakthrough" in national defense capability.

North Korea fired three short-range projectiles into the sea Thursday in an apparent show of force ahead of an expected visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to South Korea.

The projectiles were launched from the North's eastern port of Wonsan and flew 190 kilometers (115 miles) into the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the South's defense ministry said.

North and South Korea resumed talks Thursday on managing their Kaesong joint industrial zone, after a six-month hiatus caused by rising tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul.

The two Koreas set up a joint committee to run Kaesong after the zone shut down completely in April for five months as military tensions on the Korean peninsula surged to dangerous levels.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un has replaced his defense minister, a report said Wednesday -- the latest in a series of senior military reshuffles since Kim came to power in late 2011.

General Hyon Yong-Chol replaced Jang Jong-Nam as Minister of the People's Armed Forces, the South's Yonhap news agency said, citing North Korean state television which referred to Hyon as the new minister on Tuesday.

North Korea on Wednesday denounced a new Hollywood comedy about an assassination bid on leader Kim Jong-Un as a "wanton act of terror" and warned of a "merciless response" unless the U.S. authorities banned the film.

"The Interview" stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as two celebrity journalists who land an interview with Kim and are then tasked by the CIA with killing him.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Monday said there were no reasonable grounds to start an investigation into whether Pyongyang should face war crimes charges for attacks on South Korea.

Fatou Bensouda "concluded that there is no reasonable basis to initiate an investigation" into two deadly incidents in 2010: an artillery attack on Yeonpyeong island and the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan warship.

South Korea said Monday it had granted a defection request from a North Korean fisherman rescued a week ago by the coastguard, in a move guaranteed to anger Pyongyang.

The Unification Ministry said the fisherman had been rescued June 16 while drifting in a damaged squid boat in South Korean waters.

North Korea Sunday condemned Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as a U.S. "stooge" after she criticized its leader Kim Jong-Un in an interview.

The North's foreign ministry described Bishop as "no more than a stooge carrying out the U.S. hostile policy" toward it.