North Korea taunts South Korea with missile launches

North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea today in an apparent effort to show off its capabilities to South Korea, which has plans to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system. The missiles launched from a western North Korea town and flew across the country before crashing into waters off the east coast. The maneuver, evidently in response to the South’s announcement of the new defense system, demonstrated that North Korea could hit South Korea with missiles if it wanted to. The missiles don’t pose a threat to North America, but they show continued escalation between Western allies and North Korea, which wants to develop a long-range nuclear missile that could reach the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.