China assisting N. Korean missile program - Panetta

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North Korea's latest missile launch has deepened its international isolation, but is the controversial program being assisted by China?

During a congressional hearing in Washington Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta answered a question about whether China supported North Korea's missile program through trade and technology exchanges.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA SAYING:

"I'm sure there's been some help coming from China. I don't know, you know, the exact extent of that. I think we'd have to deal with it in another context in terms of the sensitivity of that information. But clearly there's been assistance along those lines."

Some military experts in the west have said missile transporter vehicles like these seen in a parade in North Korea last Sunday may have come from China.

Beijing says it did nothing wrong and denies breaking U.N. imposed sanctions about non-proliferation exports.

(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN LIU WEIMIN SAYING:

"China firmly opposes proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their transport tools, has been consistently carrying out U.N. Security Council's resolutions, and seriously implementing its own regulations and laws on non-proliferation export control."

Under United Nations Security Council resolutions from 2006 and 2009, states, including China, are banned from helping North Korea with its ballistic missile programme, including supplying heavy weapons.

Julie Noce, Reuters