Foreign Minister Taro Kono asked his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday for Chinese cooperation in adopting a new U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against North Korea, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The request, made during a telephone conversation, came in response to North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean earlier in the week.

Kono was quoted as telling Wang during the 40-minute conversation that North Korea's action posed "an unprecedented, serious and grave threat" to security and was "totally unacceptable."