Beijing and Seoul agreed yesterday they should jointly respond to Pyongyang's satellite launch plan, which some countries believe is a cover for a missile test, but differed on specific measures. 

"China also believes we should respond jointly if Pyongyang launches a rocket. But the two sides differed on the level of the joint response," Seoul's top negotiator to the Six-Party Talks Wi Sung-lac told reporters in Beijing after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei.

The United States and Japan had earlier threatened to activate their missile defense systems to shoot down the rocket if the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a missile targeting their home soils.

The two countries, as well as the Republic of Korea (ROK), also said they may seek UN sanctions on Pyongyang, even if it actually only launches a satellite. That is because the launch would breach a UN resolution passed after Pyongyang's 2006 missile and nuclear tests, banning it from any missile-related activities, they said.

China, however, has repeatedly called upon involved nations to remain calm and refrain from escalating tensions by using force.

Wi and Wu have also agreed on the need to revive the stalled Six-Party Talks, which aims to denuclearize the peninsula, Wi said.

The meeting came two weeks before the DPRK's launch, scheduled for between April 4 and 8.

"As the clock ticks, we are placing more weight on post-launch countermeasures," Wi said before leaving for Beijing yesterday.

Quoting intelligence sources, the ROK's Yonhap news reported on Monday the country was "convinced" that the launch will take place and will involve a long-range missile – not a satellite.

Top negotiators from the US, Japan and the ROK will meet in Washington on Friday to discuss a post-rocket-launch response.

The Korean Peninsula is also expected to top the agenda when China and Japan hold their 11th security talks in Tokyo on Friday, which Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue and his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae will attend.

The DPRK said yesterday that the Six-Party Talks would face "collapse" if the UN Security Council passed more sanctions after the launch.

Because such punitive measures violate a multilateral agreement on mutual respect, Pyongyang may have to step out of the talks, it said.

"If such hostile activity is carried out under the name of the UN Security Council, it should be considered a breach of the Sept 19 joint statement by the UN Security Council," a DPRK Foreign Ministry statement said.

"If the joint statement is breached, the Six-Party Talks are no longer in need of existence."

Tsinghua University East Asian studies expert Liu Jiangyong said: "There isn't enough evidence that the DPRK is indeed firing a missile. If it is not a missile, neither the US nor Japan should place more sanctions on the DPRK, because that would violate UN resolutions."

(China Daily March 25, 2009)