“The international community must unite to force North Korea to fulfil its U.N. obligations.”

The crisis around North Korea requires quick action, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday, calling on world powers to press Pyongyang to abide by its U.N. obligations.

“North Korea must fulfil all U.N. resolutions, abandon its nuclear and missile programmes,” Abe said at an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

“The international community must unite to force North Korea to fulfil its U.N. obligations.”

On Wednesday, Washington demanded an oil embargo on Pyongyang and a freeze on the foreign assets of its leader Kim Jong-Un in a dramatic bid to force an end to the perilous nuclear stand-off.

South Korea has also pushed for moves to cut off Pyongyang's key supplies of fuel oil, but Russia has dismissed such a call, while China is also reluctant to take measures that could trigger instability or a refugee exodus on its frontier.