US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have agreed to fully implement sanctions against North Korea, in a meeting that was promptly followed by a provocative Pyongyang missile launch.
The White House said on Friday that Obama and Xi agreed to "narrow differences" between the world's two major powers during a meeting the day before.
"Both leaders committed.to strengthen coordination in addressing the shared threat presented by North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile systems," the White House said.
"Both leaders affirmed their commitment to achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2270."
In January, North Korea detonated a nuclear device and a month later launched a long-range rocket, prompting the United States, China and other UN partners to implement sanctions.
Washington's efforts to build pressure on North Korea has long been a point of friction with Beijing, which provides the hermit state an economic lifeline.
The White House believes that China could do more to press North Korea into abandoning its nuclear and missile programs.
China fears that too much pressure would topple the regime, prompting instability and regional upheaval.
As if to underscore the difficult of the issue, North Korea yesterday appeared to fire another short-range missile off its east coast.
South Korea's Defence Ministry said a surface-to-air missile was fired at around 12:45 pm loacl time from the eastern city of Sondok. The range and precise trajectory could not immediately be confirmed, a ministry official said.
The launch came in the middle of the two-day nuclear security summit being hosted by Obama in Washington, at which North Korea has been the focus of the US president's talks with the leaders of China, South Korea and Japan