Andrew Card says N.Korea tested missile

TOKYO, May 1 (UPI) -- White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told CNN Sunday North Korea test fired a short-range missile Sunday that landed in the Sea of Japan.

"We're not surprised by this. The North Koreans have tested their missiles before -- they've had some failures," Card said in a pre-taped interview with CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.

"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. We don't want them to have any nuclear weapons, we don't want the Korean peninsula to have any nuclear weapons on it."

Japanese government sources told the Kyodo news agency any missile launched would be of extremely short range -- possibly an improved land-to-ship Silkworm missile with a 120-mile range, or a ballistic missile smaller in size than the short-range Scud missile,

In May 1993, North Korea test-fired the Rodong-1 missile, with an estimated range of 600 miles, toward the Sea of Japan. That occurred when negotiations between North Korea and Washington were deadlocked over the North's nuclear ambitions.