A: Hey there, any idea what's going on with North Korea these days?

B: Not really, what's up?

A: Well, they just fired some cruise missiles this morning from their east coast!

B: Wow, that sounds serious! Where did they land?

A: The Joint Chiefs of Staff didn't give details, but it happened around 9 AM from the Sondok area.

B: They've been doing this a lot lately, haven't they?

A: Yeah, just last month in January, they test-fired one, and in February, they had another launch during a military exercise. In April, they even mounted them on a newly launched destroyer!

B: Cruise missiles, huh? Those are hard to intercept because they travel at low altitudes for hours, right?

A: Exactly! Defense experts say so.

B: This comes after North Korea announced an accident during the launch of a new destroyer yesterday, right?

A: That's correct. South Korean media suggests these missile launches could be a distraction from Wednesday's failure.
----------------

South Korea's military says North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles toward the sea from the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday morning.



The Joint Chiefs of Staff say North Korea fired the cruise missiles at around 9:00 a.m. from the Sondok area of South Hamgyong Province. The JCS did not provide further details, such as the distance they traveled or where they fell.



North Korea has carried out a number of cruise missile launches in recent months.



In January, North Korea said it test-fired a cruise missile, and it conducted a military exercise in February to launch another. In April, North Korea said it test-fired cruise missiles mounted on a recently launched destroyer.



Defense experts say cruise missiles are difficult to intercept because they travel along oval trajectories at low altitudes for hours.



Thursday's launches followed the North Korean state-media's announcement earlier in the day that there was a "serious" accident during the launch of a new destroyer on Wednesday.



South Korean media quoted South Korean government officials as saying that the cruise missile launches could be intended as a demonstration of its ability to operate its missile forces reliably and also to deflect attention from Wednesday's failure.