South Korea is planning to arrange telephone conferences with the top diplomats of the United States and Japan to discuss North Korea's nuclear test, a ministry official said Friday.

"Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, now traveling in Laos with President Park Geun-hye, is seeking to have consultations with close allies," the high-ranking official said.

He noted that Yun is planning to have talks with his US and Japanese counterparts, John Kerry and Fumoi Kishida, over the phone to discuss the issue.

South Korea's military has all but confirmed North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test. The government's weather service said a magnitude 5 quake was detected with the military saying this tremor could have been caused by a 10 kiloton nuclear device.

The ministry official said South Korea is also in the process of arranging talks among the top negotiators of the six-party forum on denuclearizing North Korea, a gathering of South Korea, North Korea, the US, Japan, China and Russia. (Yonhap)