North Korea has fired a test missile as part of a planned military training exercise.
The US State Department said North Korea fired an anti-ship cruise missile into the Sea of Japan.
A Pyongyang official, speaking at a summit of non-aligned nations in Malaysia, confirmed the test and said it was carried out for "security". "Everybody has missiles, so what's the big deal?" said another North Korean official.The test came as US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other world dignitaries gathered in Seoul for the inauguration of President Roh Moo-hyun.
In his inaugural speech, Mr Roh said North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programme was "a grave threat to world peace".
But he highlighted a growing rift with Washington over how to handle the threat by calling for a shift in a relationship forged in the Cold War and nurtured by pro-US military presidents.
Mr Roh has alarmed Washington by ruling out a military option against the North. He has vowed to continue predecessor Kim Dae-jung's unconditional engagement with North Korea and wants to draw Pyongyang into a North Asian "economic community".
The United States is seeking a consensus to urge North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to scrap any nuclear ambitions and, if he refuses, to punish the country economically.