N. Korea Fires Anti-Ship Missile Into Sea
February 24, 2003 07:42 PM EST

North Korean No. 2 Kim Young Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, left, is greeted by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, upon his arrival at the opening of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Kuala Lumpur Monday, Feb . 24, 2003. Leaders representing more than half the world, mostly from developing nations, gathered for the two-day talks on issues dominated by the U.S. confrontations with Iraq and North Korea, two NAM member countries alleged to have weapons of mass destruction. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)		 SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea fired an anti-ship missile that landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Monday, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said. 

The Seoul government was investigating whether Monday's launch was a test of a new missile or whether it was the firing of an old missile as part of the North Korean military's ongoing winter training, said the official, who asked to be identified only as Maj. Chun. 

The firing comes as tensions with North Korea increasing since North Korea admitted to running a nuclear weapons program. Both the United States and Japan have urged North Korea not to conduct missile testing amid the international standoff. 

The missile crashed into the Sea of Japan, known to Koreans as the East Sea, but it was not clear where in the 180-mile-wide body of water separating the two nations it landed. 

The reported missile launch came on the eve of the inauguration of South Korea's new president, Roh Moo-hyun. In August 1998, North Korea fired a multistage missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, proving that Pyongyang is capable of striking any part of Japanese territory. 
The following year, North Korea pledged to freeze testing of long-range missiles for the duration of negotiations to improve relations. 

In recent months, fears have risen that North Korea might resume missile tests amid the standoff over North Korea's nuclear activities. 

Top U.S. intelligence officials said earlier this month that North Korea has an untested ballistic missile capable of reaching the western United States. 

The weapon is an untested, three-stage version of its Taepo Dong 2 missile, Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said. 

CIA Director George J. Tenet testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea has a missile that can at least reach the West Coast.