UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that he would raise North Korea’s planned rocket launch at a Seoul nuclear summit next week, expressing “deep concern” over 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,” Mr Ban told a press conference in Malaysia.

The nuclear-armed North has announced it will launch a rocket next month to put a satellite into orbit, a move which the US and its allies see as a pretext for a long-range missile test.

Pyongyang has said any South Korean attempt to address the North’s nuclear programme at the March 26-27 Seoul summit would be seen as a declaration of war.

But the programme and the rocket launch were expected to be hot topics on the sidelines of the meeting, which will see US President Barack Obama and other world leaders meet to discuss nuclear security issues.

A UN Security Council resolution passed after the North staged missile and nuclear tests in 2009 bans a ballistic missile launch for any purpose.

“As secretary-general of the United Nations I express my deep concern by the announcement of the (North Korean) government (on) their intention to launch a satellite,” Mr Ban said.

Mr Ban, a South Korean, also called the planned launch “a clear violation” of Security Council resolutions and said it “threatens the peace and security on the Korean peninsula”.

He said it could also under-mine recent positive signs on long-running international efforts to end North Korea’s nuc-lear programme.

Under a deal announced last month but now in jeopardy, Washington would offer substantial food aid for a partial nuclear freeze. It has raised modest hopes of progress in the denuclearisation efforts.

Those hopes have also seen the UN atomic agency, the IAEA; begin consultations with North Korea over a possible visit to the country by its inspectors.