North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast today, South Korea said, a violation of UN resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day.

North Korea fired three missiles off its eastern coast today, South Korea said, in what was likely to be seen as a message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day holiday.

North and South Korea ended talks today in the communist country over a troubled industrial project shortly after they began as officials spent most of the day in a procedural stand-off.

South Korean officials travelled today to North Korea for the first meeting between the two governments in more than a year, amid tension over Pyongyang's moves to restart its nuclear programme following a defiant rocket launch.

South Korea today accepted North Korea’s proposal for talks on a troubled joint industrial complex, setting up the first official dialogue between the two countries in a year amid tensions over the North’s recent rocket launch.

State-run television gave North Koreans their first glimpse of the country’s “auspicious” rocket launch – and of an apparently healthy leader Kim Jong Il mingling with farmers and watching bears at the zoo.

The US and its allies were seeking punishment today for North Korea’s defiant launch of a rocket that apparently fizzled into the Pacific.