SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's president on Tuesday called for a stronger alliance with the United States, a day after North Korea test-fired a cruise missile into the Sea of Japan.

Roh Moo-hyun's comments also came after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week that he wants U.S. troops stationed near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea to be moved farther away from the zone, shifted to other countries or brought home.

"The staunch Korea-U.S. combined defense arrangement is greatly contributing to our national security," Roh said in a speech at the Korean Military Academy. "The solid (South Korea)-U.S. alliance should be maintained even more so."

Roh urged South Koreans not to worry about the redeployment plan, calling it "nothing new at all." He said the two allies will consult closely with each other on reconfiguring U.S. military presence.

Another missile tested

Tensions over North Korea's nuclear programs intensified Monday when North Korea test-fired a second cruise missile off North Korea's east coast in two weeks.

Roh repeated his emphasis on the importance of resolving the nuclear dispute through dialogue.

"Without peace, everything we do will be like building a castle in the sand," Roh said. "We cannot hope to dream about prosperity in a land of Cold War and tension."

Meanwhile, North Korea criticized Washington's refusal to hold direct talks with the communist regime.

North Korea has repeatedly said it wants to talk only with the United States. But Washington prefers to settle the dispute through a multilateral channel, saying that North Korea's nuclear programs threaten not just American interests but also those of Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.

As the dispute dragged on, North Korea has taken moves apparently aimed at raising tension and pressuring Washington into negotiations.

North Korea fired a short-range missile off its east coast on the eve of the Feb. 25 inauguration of Roh.

Early this month, North Korean fighters intercepted a U.S. surveillance plane in international airspace off the North's east coast.

Separately, North Korea claimed late Monday that South Korea's main opposition party secretly sent an envoy to Pyongyang last year and promised huge aid if it won the Dec. 19 presidential election.

Pyongyang did not specify what the South Korean Grand National Party sought in return for the alleged aid promise.

But the opposition party, which lost the December election to Roh, dismissed Pyongyang's allegation Tuesday as an attempt to influence domestic politics in the South.

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.