Southeast Asian nations will discuss North Korea's planned rocket launch at a summit this week, ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan said Sunday, after the Philippines lodged diplomatic protests over the matter.

"The foreign ministers are taking up that issue tomorrow and the day after tomorrow," he told reporters in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, where officials are preparing for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"I think we are all very concerned that any instability in the peninsula will lead to further possibility potential for (an) arms race, for nuclearisation of the region, which will not be good for the region as a whole," Surin told reporters when asked about ASEAN's position on the launch.

"And it will certainly affect trade confidence, investment in the region, including in ASEAN," he added.

Pyongyang announced last month it would launch a rocket between April 12-16 to place a satellite in orbit, sparking alarm in the region.

The United States and other nations say the planned launch is a disguised ballistic missile test, and would breach a UN ban on North Korean missile launches.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said earlier on Sunday his country had filed diplomatic protests about the launch to Pyongyang representatives at the UN, in China, and in fellow ASEAN member states.

Del Rosario also said he intends the raise his country's stance on the launch at the annual ASEAN summit, a two-day meeting which starts in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, though foreign ministers will begin talks early on Monday.

A top US diplomat has previously said that debris from the launch are expected to land off the Philippines, an archipelago made up of thousands of islands.

Philippines protests against N. Korea rocket launch
Manila (AFP) April 1, 2012 - The Philippines said Sunday it had lodged protests over North Korea's rocket launch with Pyongyang representatives at the UN, in China, and in Southeast Asian nations attending a summit this week.

A top US diplomat has previously said that debris from the launch are expected to land off the Philippines, an archipelago made up of thousands of islands.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said that Manila's diplomatic missions at the United Nations and in China, Pyongyang's closest ally, were asked to lodge the protest with their North Korean counterparts.

Del Rosario said protest letters were also sent to North Korea's diplomatic posts in members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which the Philippines is part, ahead of a meeting this week.

The Philippines established diplomatic ties with North Korea in 2000, but Pyongyang has no embassy in Manila and is represented by a non-resident envoy based in Thailand.

"I will look for an opportunity to raise our position in Cambodia at ASEAN," said del Rosario, referring to the group's annual summit, a two-day meeting which starts in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

He added that the planned rocket launch was in clear violation of UN resolutions.

Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said last month the rocket launch would impact "in an area roughly between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines."

He made the comments in a message to Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr, according to a report by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Pyongyang announced last month it would launch a rocket between April 12-16 to place a satellite in orbit, sparking alarm in the region.

The United States and other nations say the launch is a disguised ballistic missile test, and would breach a UN ban on North Korean missile launches.

Washington has also said that a launch would breach a February deal, under which Pyongyang had agreed to a partial halt to nuclear activities and an end to missile tests in return for food aid.

Del Rosario said the Philippines had already asked the United States to help share intelligence information on the rocket launch, while the militaries of both sides were coordinating to track its path.