North Korea fires two ballistic missiles into East Sea, South says

North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles across its east coast, South Korea's military says, its first ballistic missile test in six months.

The tests, a breach of UN resolutions, came as South Korea and China held meetings in an effort to get the North to resume denuclearisation talks.

The launches show the North has continued to develop its weapons despite a severe economic crisis.

Hours later, the South tested its first submarine-launched ballistic missile.

The test of the missile known as SLBM was pre-planned and not in reaction to the North's latest launches. It makes South Korea the seventh country in the world with such technology.

President Moon Jae-in, who attended the test, said South Korea now had "sufficient deterrence to respond to North Korea's provocations at any time", urging the South to continue increasing its weapons programmes to "overwhelm North Korea's asymmetric power".

The tests by both Koreas highlighted an arms race on the peninsula, as negotiations with North Korea remain stalled. The US wants the country to give up its nuclear and missile programmes in exchange for sanctions relief, but the North has refused.