US officials confirmed Sunday's test, a day before the opening of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York, and called on its allies to express concern.

But they said they were not surprised by incident, the latest short-range missile test apparently timed for political impact.

"We're not surprised by this. The North Koreans have tested their missiles before. They've had some failures," White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told CNN television.

"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."

Japan, which neighbours North Korea and like the US is also involved in the six-nation process of trying to disarm the self-avowed nuclear power, said it was treating the test as a "domestic" drill.

"It was like a normal domestic military drill. It has no impact" on Japan's security, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesman, as quoted by Jiji Press.

"The missile is intended for surrounding waters (of North Korea) and it is not like having a range of several hundreds of kilometers," he said, adding that it did not violate a moratorium promised to Tokyo in 2002.

Tokyo has been on edge over North Korea since the Stalinist state fired a Taepodong-1 long-range missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean in 1998. North Korea announced a self-imposed ban on long-rang missile testing a year later.

South Korea also downplayed the test and warned against linking it to the nuclear dispute, which flared in 2002. The six-nation talks aimed at resolving it have been stalled for nearly a year.

"The missile that North Korea recently launched is a short-range missile with a range of some 100 kilometers (62 miles) and is far from the one that can carry a nuclear weapon," Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon told Yonhap news agency.

"This is not a case to be linked to the nuclear dispute," he said, adding that Seoul had not seen any sign of nuclear testing by its northern neighbour.

North Korea in February pulled out of the six-way talks, also involving China and Russia, citing US hostility towards Pyongyang, and announced it had nuclear weapons.

In April it raised tensions further by shutting down its nuclear power plant in an apparent bid to unload and reprocess spent fuel for weapons-grade plutonium.

Previous short-range missile tests have been timed to send signals. In March 2003, it lobbed two short-range missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) coinciding with the inauguration of South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun.

The latest incident follows comments from the director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency last week that North Korea is believed to be capable hitting US territory with a nuclear-armed missile.

Officials in Washington have since downplayed the remarks, without denying them.

US President George W. Bush on Thursday renewed his attacks on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, describing him as "a dangerous person". He said Washington was developing a "comprehensive strategy" to deal with North Korea, including work on a missile defense system.

North Korea withdrew in January 2003 from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which bars the transfer of nuclear weapons and technology and has 188 signatories. Some 190 nations are expected to attend the conference in New York.

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