North Korea test-fires missile, Japanese official says

TOKYO -- North Korea test-fired an anti-ship cruise missile into the Sea of Japan on today, the second in less than a month, Japan's Defense Agency chief said.

Shigeru Ishiba said the missile didn't appear to target Japan or any other country in particular.

"We don't think this will have any significant impact on our national safety, but we are monitoring it closely," he told a parliamentary session.

U.S. officials had sought to minimize the significance of a previous missile test, saying it involved a small weapon and not one of North Korea's stockpile of long-range ballistic missiles.

North Korea has repeatedly accused the United States of plotting an attack, and says its military maneuvers are defensive.

The nuclear dispute flared in October, when U.S. officials said Pyongyang admitted having a covert nuclear program in violation of a 1994 deal. Washington and its allies suspended fuel shipments; the North retaliated by expelling U.N. monitors, withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and restarting a nuclear reactor.