DPRK prepares for medium-range missile launch

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Play VideoChina calls for calm over DPRK issue Play VideoROK refuses to confirm DPRK´s missile launch

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency says the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is preparing to fire a medium-range missile from its southeastern region.

Meanwhile, the US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg says the US and Japan have agreed to work together on taking further action through the UN against the DPRK.

Steinberg expressed his hope that key powers were making progress on a new UN resolution, which will expand sanctions against the DPRK for defying the Security Council resolution with its second nuclear test.

At the same time, the South Korean government has refused to comment on the DPRK's possible missile launch.

A spokesman for the Defense Ministry has questioned the accuracy of the information, calling it "unreasonable."

But South Korea has bolstered its naval defenses along its western sea border with the DPRK by deploying its first guided-missile high-speed patrol boat.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, left, meets South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 3, 2009.  (AP Photo/Kim Kyung-Hoon, Pool)