"Whatever North Korea seeks to achieve or is speculating, nothing positive for North Korea will come out from this," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said.
"Today's launches were done despite advance warning by the relevant countries," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government's top spokesman.
"This is a grave problem in terms of peace and stability not only of Japan but also of international society. We strongly protest against North Korea," he said.
"Cooperating with the United States, we will work for the UN Security Council to take appropriate measures ... and Japan will take any kind of sanctions we can take," he said.
Japanese Cabinet ministers and government officials held an emergency security meeting, with US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer also rushing to Koizumi's official residence.
Japan put its troops and police on a higher state of alert, banned the entry of a North Korean ferry for six months and vowed additional "stern measures."
In Seoul, the government said authorities would take action if necessary, but urged a peaceful response.
In a statement from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's office, the government pledged to try to engage Pyongyang in a "patient dialogue" to calm tensions and resolve the standoff over the North's missile program.
South Korean officials publicly criticized the missile tests as a "provocative act" earlier in the day, but the latest statement suggested Seoul had not abandoned its policy to trying to engage the North.
Roh himself has not made a public statement on the tests.
"Pressuring North Korea and creating tensions are not helpful in the resolution of issue," the presidential office said.
"We should resolve the issue in a way that would not create tensions on the Korean Peninsula," the statement said. "We need to make strong protest within the framework of dialogue but act prudently and flexibly."
The call for calm talk came a week before the two Koreas were to meet in Busan for Cabinet-level talks, their highest-level regular contacts.
Officials earlier in the day indicated Seoul was reconsidering the talks in light of the missile tests, but the later statement suggested they would go ahead.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said that he was consulting with his counterparts in the US, China, Japan and Russia to form a common approach to the threat to regional security.
"Our government has serious concerns about the North Korean missile launch," he said, saying the missiles were a threat because they could be used to deliver weapons of mass destruction.
Russia, China, the EU and NATO all condemned the launches.
Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest the missile tests, Russian news agencies reported.
ITAR-Tass reported from Tokyo that one fell about 250km from the port of Vladivostok -- home to Russia's Pacific Fleet. Russian state television said that missile fell just a few dozen kilometers from nearby port, Nakhodka.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (
"We hope that all sides will maintain calm and restraint, and do things conducive to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and do not take any further steps that will add to tensions and further complicate the situation," Liu said.
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