North Korea launches 2 ballistic missiles, one to Sea of Japan

The North Korean mid-range missile launches Wednesday came a day after South Korean President Park Geun-hye confirmed her government’s plan to deploy sophisticated US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery, known as THAAD, in the town of Seongju by the end of next year. The plan is criticized by Russia and China as well as North Korea. One of the North Korean missiles landed for the first time in Japan’s economic exclusion zone. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe strongly protested it as a "grave threat" to his country.

The second missile was said by the US military to have exploded immediately upon launch.