U.N. chief to raise N.K. rocket launch at Seoul summit

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he would raise North Korea’s planned rocket launch at the upcoming Seoul Nuclear Security Summit on March 26-27, expressing “deep concern” about the issue.

“I am going to discuss the issue with the president of the Republic of (South Korea) in Seoul and I will also engage with other leaders attending the nuclear summit,” Ban told a press conference during a visit to Malaysia.

Regarding the issue, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said the North Korean issue would not be included in the official agenda of the summit, although it could be mentioned during bilateral summits on the sidelines of the event.

“Nuclear issues involving North Korea, Iran and North Korea’s rocket launch issue are not included in the official agenda but can be mentioned in bilateral talks,” Kim told reporters in Seoul.

“I presume that Ban’s remarks came in the same context.”

Ban’s and Kim’s comments came after the North warned on Wednesday that raising the North Korean issue during the summit would be deemed “a declaration of war.”

The North said Friday that it would put a satellite into space in commemoration of the 100th year since the birth of its late founder Kim Il-sung, but the U.S. and its allies including South Korea consider it a pretext for a long-range missile test.

World leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao are expected to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue in their bilateral summits with President Lee Myung-bak during the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit.

The U.S., China, Russia, Japan and South Korea as well as the EU and other countries have shared the view that the North’s rocket-launch plan violates the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, which bans any ballistic missile technology.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)