Quezon City (12 October) -- The Philippines is leaving it to the United Nations Security Council to decide the best options to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue which threatens the stability in the Korean peninsula.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said y the government will support all efforts to de-escalate the situation and restore peace and stability in the region.

"The Philippines entrusts to the UN Security Council the decision on the best options to deal with this issue. We are for peace and stability and it is our responsibility to support any and all efforts to de-escalate the situation and to restore peace and stability in the region," he said in a statement.

UN Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Japan are now in the thick of deliberations in New York on how best to handle the situation.

North Korea on Monday conducted its first ever nuclear test amid protests from the international community that included neighboring Japan and South Korea.

The UN Security Council is looking for diplomatic ways to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and possible punitive sanctions in the event Pyongyang pursues nuclear tests.

In the meantime, Bunye assured Filipino migrant workers in South Korea and their families that the government has contingency plans should tension in the peninsula escalate.