"It appears that there was a test of a short-range missile by the North Koreans and it landed in the Sea of Japan," White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said in an interview with CNN's "Late Edition."

"We're not surprised by this. The North Koreans have tested their missiles before. They've had some failures," Card said.

Later Sunday, the US State Department added: "It appears that North Korea on May 1 conducted a launch of a short-range missile in the Sea of Japan. We are continuing to look into this.

"We are consulting closely with governments in the region. We have long been concerned about North Korea's missile program and activities, and urge North Korea to continue its moratorium on ballistic missile tests."

The United States has backed six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program, but the talks -- which involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan -- have stalled since last year.

"We have to work together with our allies around the world -- especially the Japanese, the South Koreans, the Russians and the Chinese -- to demonstrate that North Korea's actions are inappropriate," Card said.

"We don't want them to have any nuclear weapons, we don't want the Korean peninsula to have any nuclear weapons on it."

The missile test follows an assessment by the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency last week that North Korea is believed capable of arming a long-range missile with a nuclear warhead and has the ability to deploy a two-stage intercontinental missile that could successfully hit US territory.

DIA director Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby made his remarks in testimony on Thursday before US Senate's Armed Services Committee, telling lawmakers that the range of North Korean weapons could reach "certainly Alaska and Hawaii, and I believe a portion of the northwest" United States.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita later played down Jacoby's remarks, although he did not deny them. He said the assessment was not new and emphasized it was theoretical in nature.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the missile was fired Sunday from the east coast of North Korea and flew about 100 kilometers (62 miles) until it fell into the sea.

Jiji Press said the test came at about 8:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday) and only consisted of one missile. According to Kyodo News, Japan was informed of the test by the US military and cabinet members were told to prepare for an emergency.

"I think they (North Koreans) are looking to kind of be bullies in the world and they're causing others to stand up and take notice, but they're not very constructive leaders," Card told Fox News Sunday.

"(North Korean leader) Kim Jong-Il ... he's someone that we don't have great confidence in terms of keeping his word. We know that we would like to see a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," he said.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said Saturday that Pyongyang "does not expect any solution to the nuclear issue or any progress in the DPRK-US relations during his (President George W. Bush's) term," according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The statement came after Bush, in a televised news conference on Thursday, described Kim Jong-Il as "a dangerous person" and said Washington was developing a "comprehensive strategy" to deal with North Korea, including work on a missile defense system.

Bush also vigorously defended his support for six-party talks.

The US president's remarks followed a series of bellicose statements by North Korea about its nuclear weapons program and warnings by officials that Pyongyang was rapidly improving its capabilities.

The North Korean missile test also comes one day before some 190 nations were to gather in New York Monday to review the Non-Proliferation Treatyat a time when the world's fight against the spread of nuclear weapons has become more challenging.

Since 1968, some 188 nations have put their names to the NPT, which bans the transfer of nuclear weapons and the technology to make them, but the treaty faces a challenge by the discovery of secret nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

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