Ambrey said three missiles were reportedly launched by the Houthis, with two not reaching the sea and the third striking the bulk carrier.
Air defenses shot down Russian missiles in at least five regions across Ukraine, according to local officials from those provinces.
The IRIS-T missiles, produced by German arms maker Diehl, are fired by Saudi Arabia's Eurofighter jets.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, though they deny making any arms deals.
A senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russia hit Ukraine this week with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its invasion.
North Korea has been under a United Nations arms embargo since it first tested a nuclear bomb in 2006.
In the midst of one of Russia's biggest missile barrages in the war at Ukraine, killing 31 civilians, a Russian missile appeared to have flown into Poland's airspace, quickly returning to Ukraine.