S. Korean president, UN chief tell N. Korea to stop rocket launch

By Byun Duk-kun
LONDON, April 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined forces Thursday to call on North Korea to
immediately halt its preparations to launch a rocket, saying it will seriously
undermine peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

The two agreed the world will need to react as one to send a clear, unified
message to the North if the communist nation goes ahead with its planned launch,
South Korea's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said.
"President Lee and U.N. Secretary General Ban agreed North Korea's firing of a
long-range rocket will have a negative impact on peace and stability of Northeast
Asia and reached an agreement on the need for the international community to take
concerted measures through the U.N. Security Council," the presidential office
said in a press release.
The meeting came amid reports that North Korea began loading fuel to its missile
in what experts call a clear sign of an imminent launch.
Pyongyang has said it will launch a communications satellite between Saturday and
Wednesday, while many countries, including South Korea and the United States,
believe it is a guise for a long-range missile test.
U.S. President Barack Obama, in an earlier bilateral meeting with the South
Korean president Thursday, said his country was already preparing a draft of a
U.N. Security Council resolution to condemn North Korea in case of an actual
launch.
Japan, which has publicly announced its plan to intercept any North Korean
missile approaching its territory, has also vowed to push for U.N. sanctions
against the North if the country fires the rocket.
The South Korean president has voiced opposition to taking any military action
against the North Korean rocket, but has been calling for "stern and unified"
reaction by the international community.
The meeting between Lee and the South Korean head of the world body also followed
the end of the G-20 economic summit, in which leaders from the world's 20 major
economies agreed to take a wide range of measures to boost the world economy
through an expansion of fiscal spending to a staggering US$5 trillion by the end
of next year and resistance to all forms of trade and financial protectionism.
Ban, a former foreign minister of Seoul, noted the G-20 accord as great progress
while Lee praised the United Nations' contribution to the successful end of the
economic summit, Cheong Wa Dae said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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