Game changer

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- The top diplomats from South Korea, China and Japan agreed that North Korea's planned long-range rocket launch is a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution, a Seoul official said Sunday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba shared the understanding during annual three-way talks and bilateral meetings on Saturday and Sunday in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo, the official said.

But the three appeared to differ on specifics on how to respond to the planned launch if Pyongyang pushes ahead with it, including whether to seek sanctions on Pyongyang at the U.N. Security Council.

During a press conference, Kim and Gemba clearly denounced the rocket plan as a violation of the U.N. resolution, but Yang only called for calm and restraint to prevent the situation from worsening further.

During a one-on-one meeting with Kim on Saturday, however, Yang said Seoul and Beijing should work closely to cope with the issue not only bilaterally, but also at the United Nations. The remark is seen as a tacit recognition that the launch violates the U.N. resolution, the South Korean official said.

Yang made the remark after Kim called for China to play a greater role in handling the rocket launch, saying Pyongyang should be punished with sanctions if it goes ahead with the provocative move.

China is Pyongyang's last-remaining major ally and main provider of economic assistance and diplomatic protection. One of the veto-holding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Beijing holds the key to punishing Pyongyang with sanctions.

North Korea says it will launch its Unha-3 long-range rocket between April 12-16 to put what it claims is a satellite into orbit. However, the U.S. and regional powers believe the launch is aimed at testing the North's ballistic missile technology.