Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said Thursday that conditions are not yet ripe for an early inter-Korean summit.

Song told a parliamentary committee that such a summit should be sought only when it can help produce substantial progress in Seoul-Pyongyang relations and defuse tension on the Korean Peninsula.

The minister said it was not "desirable to have a specific timing in mind."

Song also said it is “premature” to discuss a four-way summit between the two Koreas, the United States, and China, adding that he believes it is time to focus on implementing the February 13th agreement on disabling North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

At the same time, he did not rule out a possible extension of the deadline by which North Korea must implement initial steps toward nuclear dismantlement under the February 13th six-way accord.