North Korea Taunts U.S. With Medium Range Missile Launch .. and fails

North Korea launched a mid-range ballistic missile on Wednesday but U.S. and South Korean military officials said that the test ended in failure.

“This morning North Korea fired a missile from the airport in Wonsan, but we surmise it was a failure,” Seoul’s defense ministry said. “South Korea and the [United States] are aware of the missile launch and, to their knowledge, North Korea’s missile was not successfully launched.”

U.S. military officials said that the missile exploded just minutes after launch and South Korean sources say that the missile is either a Pukguksong-2 or another missile with similar design and capability.

The Pukguksong-2 missile boasts a 1,860-mile range which is not capable of hitting the United States.

North Korea announced to the world on Tuesday that it would be accelerating its missile and nuclear weapons development programs.