UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Japan urged international unity Wednesday in pressuring North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, even as another key U.S. ally pushed back against President Donald Trump's threat to "totally destroy" the rogue nation if it attacked.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe devoted his entire speech at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations to North Korea, which has launched two ballistic missiles over its eastern neighbor in the past three weeks.

Abe told the U.N. General Assembly the "gravity of this threat is unprecedented." He appealed for nations to...