Pak Ui Chun, however, did not specify when North Korea would disable its nuclear facilities, Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Claro Cristobal said.

Pak, who is making his first overseas trip since becoming foreign minister in May, is in Manila to attend the Asean Regional Forum, Asia's largest security organisation.

North Korea shut down its Yongbyon reactor earlier this month under a February agreement reached in six-nation talks on its nuclear programme, the first tangible progress after years of negotiations.

In return, it has begun receiving 50,000 tons of oil from South Korea and is to eventually receive the equivalent of a total of 1 million tons for disabling all its nuclear facilities.

However, the latest round of nuclear talks ended earlier this month without any target date for disabling the facilities.

In a meeting Sunday with Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Pak did not specify a date, but said his country "is committed to the agreement signed in February to move forward the denuclearsation of the Korean peninsula," Cristobal said.

"The six-party talks have been producing good progress," he quoted Pak as saying.

Pak also reiterated his country's long-standing position that a principle of "action for action" should be followed for the successful implementation of the February accord, with each side taking steps in response to the other's, Cristobal said.