US President Barack Obama called China's President Xi Jinping on Friday to urge Beijing to pile more pressure on North Korea as new evidence indicates that Pyongyang's planned rocket launch could be just days away.

The two leaders agreed that the launch of the North Korean rocket would represent "another provocative and destabilizing action," according to the transcript of the telephone conversation issued by the White House.

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Friday's call is the Obama administration's latest effort to push Beijing into imposing more hard line sanctions against Kim Jong Un's government, which last month conducted its fourth nuclear test and more recently announced plans for a long-range rocket launch.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the US is considering a range of options in answer to Pyongyang's continued defiance of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.  

The US and China have been trying to find common ground on the issue, he said.

"Impactful Resolution"

"In our conversations at a diplomatic level with the Chinese in particular, we encouraged them to work with us and develop potential options," Earnest said. "They have unique influence over the North Korean regime."

While Xi and Obama concurred on the need for "an impactful UNSC resolution," China and the US still appear far apart on how that aim should be achieved.  Beijing has opposed Washington's planned unilateral sanctions against North Korea.

Obama told Xi he hoped the UNSC "could adopt measures to cope with the situation effectively," adding that the US would cooperate with China toward that end.

Xi stressed that the current situation in the Korean Peninsula is complicated and sensitive, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency. 

The telephone conversation between the two heads-of-state came even as the website 38 North published new satellite imagery indicating movement at North Korea's Sohae -- also called Tongching-ra -- launch site, including the presence of fuel trucks within the bunkers.

Patience and Dialogue

The UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) said this past Tuesday that it received official notice of the launch from North Korean authorities, who claimed that the rocket is intended to put a satellite into orbit. 

The rocket will require ballistic missile technology.  The UNSC has banned North Korea from developing both nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technologies.

US state department assistant secretary Daniel Russel said recently that Pyongyang's launch plans "argue even more strongly for tougher US sanctions on the North."

In an apparent reference to China, which has resisted the expansion of sanctions against its neighbor, Russel said the planned rocket launch "would be an unmistakable slap in the face" of those who insist on patience and dialogue in dealing with Kim Jong Un's government. 

North Korea is said to be preparing for the celebration of Kim Jong-il's birthday on February 16, which will be followed by a large gathering of the country's ruling Worker's Party in May. 

Some analysts speculate that Kim wants to demonstrate the advances in his nuclear and ballistic missile programs ahead of the two events. 

TagsUS-China relations, China-North Korea relations, UN security council violations