Foreign Minister Taro Kono told his Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Asif in Islamabad on Thursday that South Asian countries must not allow "loopholes" in U.N. sanctions against North Korea.

Asif responded that Pakistan is striving to fully implement the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang and wants to cooperate with Japan on the matter, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry statement.

Pakistan, itself known to be a nuclear-armed state, maintains friendly relations with North Korea.

According to the ministry, Kono also stressed the importance of Pakistan taking positive steps on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the proposed Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.

Kono also met Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi and Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Kono's visit to Pakistan is the first by a Japanese foreign minister in roughly nine years, the ministry said. It is his first stop on a trip that will also take him to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.