 even when a low speed monitor photodiode and a low speed monitor circuit are employed. According to Claim 0 of the present invention, there is provided a laser control apparatus which controls a power of a semiconductor laser in an optical recording/reproducing apparatus for performing recording/reproduction into/from an optical recording medium by a semiconductor laser, comprising: a semiconductor laser power monitor means for monitoring an output of the semiconductor laser; an output error detection means for detecting an error between an output power reference value 