SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea Wednesday in its second launch in two days, South Korea's military said, hours after a senior Pyongyang official derided Seoul as "world-startling fools" for clinging to hopes of improved ties with the nuclear-armed neighbor.
The back-to-back provocations underscore Pyongyang's deepening hostility toward South Korea's liberal government under President Lee Jae-myung and its rejection of any diplomatic thaw, even after a brief positive signal from Kim Jong Un's influential sister.
