Officials of the United States, South Korea and Japan have agreed to "maintain close coordination" to deal with the situation when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has missile test.

U.S. special representative on the DPRK Stephen Bosworth and Sung Kim, director of the office of Korean affairs at the State Department, held separate meetings on Friday with their counterparts Wi Sung-lac of South Korea and Akitaka Saiki of Japan, State Department deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

"The discussions were constructive and substantive. The parties discussed how to maintain close coordination in the event of needing to respond to a North Korean missile test and how to improve the six-party process to move forward.

"Ambassador Kim also hosted an informal trilateral meeting with his two counterparts that day," Duguid said told a news briefing.

No further details on the talks were available.

The DPRK has informed the international community of its plan to launch a satellite between April 4 and 8, and some Western countries continue to suspect the operation is a cover for the test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2009)