SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday condemned North Korea's planned rocket launch as a "grave provocation" aimed at developing a long-range ballistic missile to deliver nuclear weapons.

Seoul's presidential office issued the condemnation after President Lee Myung-bak presided over a meeting of foreign and security ministers, vowing to work closely with the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the European Union to deal with the issue during next week's Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.

“Our government defines North Korea's so-called working satellite launch plan as a grave provocation to develop a long-distance delivery means for nuclear weapons by using ballistic missile technology," presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said.