The Philippines has suspended trade with North Korea as part of efforts to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution against the regime, according to news reports.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters in the capital of the decision in the wake of North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test over the weekend.
"We can say we have suspended trade relations with North Korea," Reuters quoted the minister as saying. "We will fully comply with UNSC resolutions, including the economic sanctions."
North Korea is subject to multiple Security Council sanctions resolutions for its repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
The Philippines is North Korea's fifth-largest trade partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$28.8 million in the first six months of this year, Reuters said, citing the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.
The United States is pushing to pass a new Security Council resolution next week to possibly include a ban on exports of crude oil to Pyongyang. (Yonhap)