LONDON -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of two newly developed types of missiles, state media reported, launches that came as the United States and South Korea held their annual military drills to the south.

A 95-year-old former North Korean soldier who spent decades imprisoned in the South will continue his campaign to return to the North, an activist said Thursday, after South Korean troops stopped his symbolic border march this week.

North Korea has accused South Korea of conducting a "deliberate provocation aimed at military conflict" after Seoul confirmed its soldiers fired ten warning shots toward North Korean troops it claimed had crossed the demarcation line between the two countries on Tuesday.