SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who has been seeking to improve strained relations with Pyongyang, ordered on Monday his cabinet to prepare a partial step-by-step implementation of existing agreements with North Korea.

North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un remained unhappy as the U.S. and South Korea conducted their annual summer joint military drills.

Pyongyang regularly criticizes such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive.