Southeast Asian leaders on Wednesday pledged to step up efforts to resolve overlapping maritime disputes with China, at the end of a two-day summit which also focused on Myanmar and North Korea.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "reaffirmed the importance" of a 10-year-old declaration on the conduct of the parties (DOC) pledging to promote peace and understanding in the disputed area.

North Korea on Saturday criticized the U.S. suspension of food aid over its planned rocket launch as an "overreaction,” saying it would render a U.S.-North Korean deal reached last month null and void.

"The U.S. overreaction to DPRK (North Korea's) plan... has gone beyond the limit," a foreign ministry spokesman said, according to the North's official news agency.

North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles off its west coast this week amid international alarm at its planned long-range rocket launch, South Korean newspapers said Friday.

The North fired what appeared to be two KN-01 ground-to-ship missiles with a range of up to 120 kilometers (75 miles) early Thursday from a missile base near the western port of Nampo, Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cabinet Friday gave the green light to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it threatens Japan's territory, as the planned launch raises global alarm bells.

Pyongyang has said it will fire a rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung, saying the launch was for peaceful purposes.

North Korea has reportedly begun fuelling a rocket for a launch next month, defying calls to abort an event the West says is a disguised missile test, as the United States suspended planned food aid.

"The launch is coming closer. The possibility is high that the launch date will be set for April 12 or 13," Japan's Tokyo Shimbun reported Thursday, quoting a source "close to the government" in Pyongyang.

North Korea pushed back Tuesday at President Barack Obama's criticism of its plans to launch a satellite aboard a rocket, calling his stance confrontational and vowing to go forward with what it insisted was a peaceful mission.

Worries about the North's plans, which Washington and Seoul say are a cover to test long-range missile technology for a possible nuclear weapons program, have overshadowed a two-day nuclear security summit in Seoul that has drawn nearly 60 leaders.

U.S. President Barack Obama met his Chinese counterpart Monday for talks expected to focus on North Korea's upcoming rocket launch, a day after a blunt appeal to Beijing to get tougher with Pyongyang.

Obama and President Hu Jintao held talks before the start of a nuclear terrorism summit in South Korea which has been overshadowed by the North's planned launch in mid-April.

South Korea is preparing to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it strays into the South's territory during a launch planned for next month, the defense ministry said Monday.

The South Korean and U.S. military are closely monitoring activity at the Tongchang-ri base, a ministry spokesman said, a day after Seoul confirmed the main body of a rocket had been moved to the site in the North's northwest.

U.S. President Barack Obama warned North Korea Sunday that its "bad behavior" would be thwarted and the country would only deepen its isolation if it carried out a planned rocket launch.

"North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or by provocations," Obama said in a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak on the eve of a nuclear security summit in Seoul.

A senior U.S. official has warned North Korea's upcoming rocket launch would be aimed south for the first time and impact in an area "roughly between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines".

Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, delivered the message in person to Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday.