Anchor: South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) says North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday morning. The launch apparently involved various kinds of short-range missiles, which the JCS thinks the North might be planning to sell overseas. 
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: It was between 8:10 and 9:20 a.m. when the South Korean military detected several short-range ballistic missile launches from the North. 

Shortly after the firing Thursday morning, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) briefed reporters about the North’s latest military action.

[Sound bite: Col. Lee Seong-joon — Spokesperson, Joint Chiefs of Staff (Korean-English)] 
“I am the JCS communications director. Between 8:10 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. today, our military detected various types of short-range ballistic missiles being launched from Wonsan toward the East Sea. The missiles flew as far as 800 kilometers before falling into the East Sea.” 

Thursday’s missile launch was the first since March 10 and the second since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. 

JCS officials hinted at the possibility that this time the North may be seeking to export its weapons to Russia.

[Sound bite: Col. Lee Seong-joon — Spokesperson, Joint Chiefs of Staff (Korean-English)] 
“We assess that this is part of a test to check performance and flight stability in order to export their weapons. … As you know, [the North’s] short-range ballistic missiles would refer to the super-large multiple rocket launcher and the Iskander, among others. They appeared to have fired a few kinds.”

Ahead of the presidential election next month, the Joint Chiefs of Staff also stressed that the nation is maintaining airtight readiness in cooperation with U.S. forces.

The foreign ministry said senior officials from Seoul, Washington and Tokyo held a trilateral phone consultation Thursday morning, sharing their assessments of the launch.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.