China will send a special envoy this week to Seoul to meet with South Korea’s President-elect Park Geun-hye, in a visit that is expected to focus on Beijing’s position on a U.N. response to Pyongyang’s rocket launch last month, a senior Seoul official said Monday.

The planned visit by Zhang to South Korea comes as China, a key ally of North Korea, is apparently resisting efforts by South Korea and the United States to seek tougher punishment by the U.N. Security Council against the North’s Dec. 12 launch of a long-range rocket.

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun will arrive in Seoul on Wednesday for a three-day visit that also includes talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan on Thursday, a senior foreign ministry official said.

Zhang will meet with Park on Thursday after talks with Kim, the official said on the condition of anonymity.

“When Vice Foreign Minister Zhang visits South Korea, the issue of North Korea’s rocket launch will be discussed,” the official said.

The official expects Zhang to “clarify China’s stance on a U.N. action” against the North’s launch during the meeting with the South Korean foreign minister.

Shortly after the North’s latest rocket launch last month, the Security Council held emergency talks and condemned the action as a clear violation of U.N. resolutions.

However, discussions at the Security Council on how to punish North Korea for launching the rocket have made little progress since China, one of the veto-wielding council members, has not responded to the push by Seoul and Washington for tighter sanctions against Pyongyang, Seoul officials said.

Negotiations at the Security Council about possible responses to the North’s launch are likely to begin this week, according to the official. (Yonhap News)