Pyongyang last cut off the hotline in August after joint US-South Korea military drills. The move comes amid a series of weapons tests by the North.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the US is the "root cause" of instability on the Korean Peninsula. He said Pyongyang is only increasing its military capabilities as a deterrent.

Several Kosovo police officers and ethnic Serbs were injured in fresh clashes in northern Kosovo in raids targeting smuggled goods, sparking fresh tensions in the already uneasy region beset by ethnic strife.

The military in South Korea has said the projectile was a submarine-launched ballistic missile. It comes as intelligence chiefs from the US, South Korea and Japan meet in Seoul.

Villagers count the dead after gunmen from a suspected criminal gang attacked the village market in Goronyo in northwest Nigeria's Sokoto state, killing 43 people.

North Korea has confirmed that it tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile on Tuesday, making it the fifth in a round of missile tests by the country since September.

South Korea has launched its first domestically developed space rocket but failed to put its dummy payload into orbit, a setback in the country's attempts to join the ranks of advanced space-faring nations.

A US envoy said North Korea's recent weapon tests were "concerning and counterproductive." Last week, the isolated nation carried out tests of a new type of ballistic missile launched from submarines.

In a UN Security Council draft resolution, Beijing and Moscow have called for the lifting of trade sanctions on Pyongyang "with the intent of enhancing the livelihood of the civilian population."

Nearly 70 years after the conflict ended in stalemate, Seoul is pushing hard for a declaration that will formally end the Korean War. But Washington is reluctant to reward the regime in Pyongyang.

With four months to go until election day, the two top candidates for the presidency are already at the center of allegations of corruption and abuse of power, with debate over policy relegated to the background.