SEOUL — South Korean, Chinese and Japanese leaders met in Seoul Monday for their first trilateral summit in nearly five years, after nuclear-armed North Korea announced plans to put another satellite into orbit.

There are low expectations of any major breakthroughs at the meeting between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, but the leaders have expressed hopes it could help revitalize three-way diplomacy.

Just ahead of the summit, North Korea informed the Japanese Coast Guard of an imminent satellite launch window, confirming a recent South Korean intelligence assessment that Pyongyang would try to put another military reconnaissance satellite into orbit.

Although the North was not officially on the program for the talks, with Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing aiming to find consensus on easier economic ground, the pending launch ensured Pyongyang made it onto the agenda.

"Any launch using ballistic missile technology would directly violate UN Security Council resolutions and undermine regional and global peace and stability," Yoon said in his opening remarks, before going into the talks.

"I believe that if North Korea launches despite warnings from the international community, the international community should respond decisively," he added.

"I hope that our three countries, who are working together as members of the UN Security Council this year will join forces to contribute to peace and prosperity in the international community by gathering wisdom and strength in the face of a global complex crisis and geopolitical conflicts," he said.

Kishida called on the North to "stop the launch", before heading into what he said he hoped would be "in-depth discussions" with his counterparts "on how concrete cooperation can be pursued in line with the present era."

Chinese Premier Li said in his opening remarks that the three countries were willing "to seek mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation" Xinhua reported.

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