Anchor: North Korea has launched multiple cruise missiles into the East Sea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the missiles around 9 a.m. from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong Province. The military believes the North is working on modifying the Padasuri-6, modeled after the Russian Kh-35 anti-ship weapon. 
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said the weapons launched Thursday from the North’s Sondok area on the east coast were cruise missiles. 

In February North Korea test-fired what it called the Padasuri-6 cruise missile after reverse-engineering the Russian subsonic, sea-skimming anti-ship missile the Kh-35 Uran.

Believing that Thursday’s missile launch may have been conducted at an offshore location, the South Korean military intelligence suspects the North may have modified the ground-to-ship Russian weapon to create a ship-to-ship missile.

The military said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing data concerning the projectiles the North fired Thursday morning. 

The JCS stressed that the military was able to detect signs of the missile launch in advance, adding that the allied troops are maintaining the capabilities and readiness to respond in an overwhelming manner to any provocations from North Korea.

The launches came in the short wake of news reports that parts of the North’s new naval destroyer were “crushed” in an accident at its commissioning ceremony Wednesday.

Media outlets in Pyongyang said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the blunder a “criminal act,” apparently calling for punishment for those responsible. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.