Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will host a summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday to ensure stable and friendly ties as her country faces growing tension with Beijing.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is set for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday, a week after one with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as Seoul seeks to balance ties with both neighbours.

And yet: some observers wonder whether a society as patriarchal as North Korea’s could accept a female leader. Under Mr Kim, several women have gained big jobs. The second-most powerful person in the country is Mr Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong. For the first time in its history North Korea has a female foreign minister: Choe Son Hui.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected several ballistic missile launches from North Korea's capital region around 7:50 a.m. It stated that the missiles flew approximately 560 miles and that South Korean and U.S. authorities were analyzing the details of the launches.

South Korea’s central bank will keep its key interest rate unchanged at 2.50% on Thursday, as the won's fall has limited room for easing, according to economists in a Reuters poll, who have pushed expectations for the next cut to early next year.

Explore how socialist market economies operate in China, Cuba, and North Korea, balancing state control and market elements to meet national needs.

North Korea reported on the drill a day after its neighbors said they detected multiple ballistic missile launches and accused the North of carrying out provocations.

South Korea’s government is a little more optimistic about the economy’s prospects than the central bank, striking a more upbeat tone as authorities move to further open the nation’s currency and financial markets to global investors.

The unusually coarse language from Kim Jong-un's sister shows that Pyongyang has no intention of reconciling with Seoul, experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's influential sister has delivered a scathing warning to the South's government after drones were reportedly flown across the border earlier this month.