An overnight search for a cargo ship carrying 16 North Korean crew that sank off South Korea killing at least two failed to find any signs of survivors or debris, officials said Saturday.

The 4,300-tonne Mongolian-flagged ship sent out a distress call from international waters off South Korea's southern island of Geomun shortly after 1:00 am Friday (14:00 GMT Thursday).

South Korea said Friday it had successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile capable of carrying a one-tonne payload to any part of North Korea.

The launch was carried out March 23, just two days before North Korea test fired two medium-range ballistic missiles capable of striking Japan.

South Korean coastguard units searched Friday for survivors of a cargo ship with 16 North Korean crew that sank with the loss of at least two lives off the South's southern coast.

A coastguard spokesman told Agence France Presse that the bodies of two North Korean sailors had been recovered and three other crew had been rescued, with 11 still missing.

The United States said Thursday it will meet next week with allies South Korea and Japan to plan strategy on North Korea amid high tensions after the regime's live-fire drills.

The U.S. pointman on North Korea, Glyn Davies, will meet Monday in Washington with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea, Junichi Ihara and Hwang Joon-Kook.

South Korea said Wednesday it had evidence suggesting an unidentified drone that crashed last month near the northern city of Paju was of North Korean origin.

Korean words on batteries recovered from the unsophisticated unmanned aerial vehicle were of a type only used north of the border, a defence ministry spokesman said.

China should press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons if Beijing wants to change U.S. troop plans in the region, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

Danny Russel, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, acknowledged that a growing China has been unhappy with efforts by the United States to strengthen defense cooperation with allies Japan and South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has warned of a "very grave" situation on the Korean peninsula, where a surge in military tensions has seen the two Koreas trade artillery fire and Pyongyang threaten a new nuclear test.

In a meeting with top military leaders on Tuesday, Kim blamed Washington and Seoul for the current frictions, saying they had trampled on peace overtures from Pyongyang.

China should press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons if Beijing wants to change U.S. troop plans in the region, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

Danny Russel, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, acknowledged that a growing China has been unhappy with efforts by the United States to strengthen defense cooperation with allies Japan and South Korea.

South Korea on Tuesday urged North Korea to stop making "senseless" personal attacks on President Park Geun-Hye following a series of increasingly vitriolic diatribes published by Pyongyang's state media.

A government statement called on the North to "act discreetly" in line with a recent cross-border agreement for the two countries to stop slandering one another.

South Korea said Tuesday it had recovered an unidentified drone that crashed on one of its border islands the same day that North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire across their disputed maritime boundary.

The wreckage was discovered on Baengnyeong island, which lies just south of the maritime border, fueling suspicions that it might be North Korean.