Conley
03-26-2012, 08:55 AM
China and the US have agreed to co-ordinate their response to any "potential provocation" if North Korea goes ahead with a planned rocket launch, the White House says.
North Korea says the long-range rocket will carry a satellite. The US says any launch would violate UN resolutions and be a missile test.
US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao met on the margins of a nuclear summit in South Korea.
The launch is scheduled for April.
Its timing - between 12 and 16 April - is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's late Great Leader Kim Il-sung.
'Destabilising'
The White House said Mr Hu indicated to Mr Obama that he was taking the North Korean issue very seriously and was registering China's concern with the government in Pyongyang.
"We both have an interest in making sure that international norms surrounding non-proliferation, preventing destabilising nuclear weapons, is very important," Mr Obama said ahead of the meeting.
But a US national security official cast doubt on any change in Chinese policy, the Associated Press reported.
"China has expressed those concerns before and North Korea has continued on with its behaviour," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said, according to AP.
"Therefore, China needs to look at whether it needs to be doing more above and beyond the types of messages and warnings it's been giving to the North Koreans."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17509349
It will be interesting to see if North Korea's new leader bows to Chinese pressure or continues the practices of his father.
North Korea says the long-range rocket will carry a satellite. The US says any launch would violate UN resolutions and be a missile test.
US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao met on the margins of a nuclear summit in South Korea.
The launch is scheduled for April.
Its timing - between 12 and 16 April - is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's late Great Leader Kim Il-sung.
'Destabilising'
The White House said Mr Hu indicated to Mr Obama that he was taking the North Korean issue very seriously and was registering China's concern with the government in Pyongyang.
"We both have an interest in making sure that international norms surrounding non-proliferation, preventing destabilising nuclear weapons, is very important," Mr Obama said ahead of the meeting.
But a US national security official cast doubt on any change in Chinese policy, the Associated Press reported.
"China has expressed those concerns before and North Korea has continued on with its behaviour," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said, according to AP.
"Therefore, China needs to look at whether it needs to be doing more above and beyond the types of messages and warnings it's been giving to the North Koreans."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17509349
It will be interesting to see if North Korea's new leader bows to Chinese pressure or continues the practices of his father.