SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea called Sunday for a calm response to North Korea's missile tests, accusing Japan of heightening tensions through its hawkish remarks.

"There is no reason to fuss over this from the break of dawn like Japan, but every reason to do the opposite," said a statement from the office of President Roh Moo-Hyun's spokesman.

"There is nothing good in heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula and worsening inter-Korean relations. This will not help at all to settle the nuclear issue or the missile issue," it said.

"It is the president's view not to raise a shrill voice but to respond calmly," it said. "The possible launch of a Daepodong missile had been widely publicized in advance. It was aimed at nobody and did not lead to a state of emergency in either our country or other countries."

Roh's government has expressed caution at a U.S. and Japanese push to slap further sanctions on North Korea at the United Nations Security Council.

South Korea, which has been reconciling with its communist neighbor since 2000, has recently had sour relations with Japan, due largely to the legacy of Tokyo's 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

Japan's hawkish Foreign Minister Taro Aso earlier Sunday said Tokyo would have the right to attack North Korea to protect its citizens from a nuclear missile launch.

North Korea on Wednesday test-fired seven missiles including a new Taepodong model believed to be able to hit Alaska or Hawaii but quickly crashed into the Sea of Japan, known as the East Sea by Koreans.

A previous Taepodong in 1998 flew over Japan into the Pacific Ocean, frightening Tokyo into stepping up a project to build a missile defense shield with the United States.

South Korea has played a balancing act since the missile tests, saying it was sticking by the "sunshine policy" of reconciling with the North launched in 2000 by Roh's predecessor Kim Dae-Jung, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize.