North Korea launched an anti-ship missile into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said Tuesday. South Korea believed the missile to be a small, conventional one - not the long-range, ballistic Taepo Dong rocket that U.S. officials fear can reach far beyond Japan and possibly hit parts of the continental United States.

Both the United States and Japan have urged North Korea not to conduct missile testing amid the international standoff over the communist state's nuclear activities, saying it would raise tensions in the region.

Missile Launch Comes on Eve of Inauguration of S. Korea's New President

The missile launch came on the eve of the inauguration of South Korea's new president, Roh Moo-hyun. It also coincides with a visit to South Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who arrived in Seoul on Monday evening to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

A senior State Department official accompanying Powell said the missile was fired from Hamkyong Province in northeastern North Korea.

Jitters have run high since the United States accused North Korea of admitting to a secret nuclear weapons program late last year. The North has since pulled out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and threatened to abandon the armistice that ended the Korean War five decades ago.

Charles Twining, a former U.S. ambassador with experience in Asian military, called the timing of the missile test "very strange."

"It just makes it even clearer that something has to be done to persuade North Korea by diplomatic means to work with the international community," said Twining, who is attending the Non-Alignment Movement summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as an observer.

Earlier this month, U.S. intelligence officials said North Korea has an untested ballistic missile capable of reaching the western United States. Washington also considers North Korea the top peddler of missile parts and technology to the Middle East.

The Japanese Defense Agency said Tuesday it was investigating the recent launch.

North Korea has a two-stage Taepo Dong 2, which may be able to reach Alaska or Hawaii, the United States government has said.

CIA Director George J. Tenet acknowledged the North Koreans have the capability to reach the western United States with a long-range missile.

However, U.S. intelligence officials had earlier said that North Korea has demonstrated no new missile capabilities in the last year.

A 2001 U.S. government report said a three-stage Taepo Dong could deliver a several-hundred-kilogram (pound) payload from North Korea to targets about 15,000 kilometers (9,300 miles) away - sufficient to strike all of North America.

In 2001, North Korea imposed a voluntary moratorium on ballistic missile testing through 2003. However, Pyongyang has recently hinted it may resume testing.

PHOTO CAPTION

North Korean number two, Kim Yong-nam, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, speaks at the third session of the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur February 25, 2003. REUTERS/B