A senior Foreign Ministry official says the six-party talks countries have agreed on a general timetable for the delivery of economic and energy aid to North Korea, although they have not specified a target date.

Hwang Joon-kook, who oversees the ministry's North Korean nuclear affairs bureau, told a news briefing Thursday a six-party working group met at the truce village of Panmunjeom and discussed the pace and direction of the economic aid shipments.

The South Korean official, who chaired the meeting, added that while the participants could not set a timetable, they did reach general agreement on the aid provision.

A diplomatic source said Pyongyang seemed to understand the difficulties in producing a more detailed timetable given Japan's refusal to provide aid to the North.