North Korea fires missiles toward sea after ridiculing South’s hopes for better ties

North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea Wednesday in its second launch event in two days, South Korea’s military said, hours after a senior North Korean official released crude insults against Seoul’s hopes for warmer relations.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles lifted off from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area and flew about 150 miles each in a direction toward the North’s eastern waters. It said South Korea maintains a readiness to repel any provocations by North Korea under a solid military alliance with the United States.

Seoul later said North Korea fired an additional ballistic missile toward its eastern waters without giving further details.

The South Korean military said it had also detected the launch of an unidentified