The North's missile tests present a hard challenge to Moon, a liberal elected last month who has expressed a desire to reach out to Pyongyang.
North Korea's weapons tests are meant to build a nuclear and missile program that can stand up to what it sees as US and South Korean hostility, but they are also considered by outside analysts as ways to make its political demands clear to leaders in Washington and Seoul.
Japan's navy and air force conducted military drills with two US aircraft carriers in the Sea of Japan last week, following similar joint US-South Korea exercises.
Unless Washington sucks up its pride and sits down with the North Koreans, neither side can agree on a set of terms to convince Pyongyang to stop its nuclear tests or its non-stop missile launches.
In the statement, made in response to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's remarks during his visit to New Zealand, the spokesman criticized the US top diplomat's "trite and unconvincing reasons for tightening sanctions against North Corea".
South Korea's military says the launch appears to be barrage of land-to-ship missiles fired off North's east coast. The report goes on to say that these missiles were likely defensive and could possibly be used against opposing warships.
The new cruise rocket is "a powerful attack means capable of striking any enemy group of battleships attempting a military attack on the DPRK from the ground at will", KCNA said.
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In a series of missile tests, North Korea has been aggressively developing its missile technology. Furthermore, "Moon, who was elected on a platform of deeper engagement with Kim Jong-un's rogue regime in Pyongyang, has previously voiced his reservations about THAAD, urging Washington to respect the will of the South Korean people". These demands include the removal of almost 30,000 US troops in South Korea meant to check North Korean aggression.
The launch Thursday - the North's fifth weapons test in a month - was overseen by leader Kim Jong-Un, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported, and came less than a week after the United Nations tightened sanctions against the Stalinist regime. The missiles were launched into the same general area that the carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan sailed in just hours earlier.
While they aren't the ballistic missiles banned by the U.N. Security Council resolution, the South Korean government strongly condemned the test-firing as a grave provocation.
The European Union on Thursday broadened its sanctions against North Korea over its work on nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Two rocket launchers have already been deployed to South Korea as part of the THAAD anti-missile system.
Given that the USA recently has deployed warships to the Korean peninsula, it makes flawless sense for Pyongyang to respond with testing a missile that could one day attack them-even if, at this point, such a missile attack would not be successful.
Leader Kim Jong-un has spoken of his aim to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the mainland United States with a nuclear weapon.
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