Officials of 27 Asia-Pacific nations on Wednesday urged North Korea to strictly comply with UN resolutions and restraint its nuclear program and rocket launches. The call was made in a resolution adopted at the closing session of the 21^st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum in Vladivostok, Russia. The resolution followed Pyongyang’s announcement of a possible missile launch in response to the UN’s tightened sanctions to punish a launch conducted last December.

North Korea's rocket lifted off in December 2012 (Photo: AP)

Japan proposed that the resolution should demand that North Korea investigate earlier kidnappings of Japanese citizens and refrain from developing weapons of mass destruction, which Russia and China opposed.