Southeast Asian foreign ministers are to urge North Korea to comply fully with U.N. resolutions, while also calling for self-restraint from all parties concerned to avoid escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, according to a draft joint statement obtained Friday.

All 10 members of the regional bloc have diplomatic relations with North Korea and therefore are on relatively good terms with Pyongyang. The ministers are meeting in Manila on Friday ahead of a regional summit by their leaders the following day.

"The Association of Southeast Nations expresses its grave concern over the escalation of tension in the Korean Peninsula," the draft statement obtained by Kyodo News said. "To maintain peace and stability, ASEAN strongly urges the DPRK to comply fully with its obligation to all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions."

At the same time, ASEAN will also "urge all parties concerned to exercise self-restraint to de-escalate the tension and refrain from unnecessary actions that may aggravate the situation and calls for the resumption of meaningful dialogue in the Korean Peninsula to create (a) condition conducive to peace and stability."

Diplomatic sources said earlier that the United States has asked the Philippines, this year's ASEAN chair, to adopt statements that strongly criticize North Korea.

Meanwhile, North Korea, which sent a letter to the ASEAN secretary general on March 23 putting the blame for the tensions on military exercises by South Korea and the United States, failed in its plea for support from the ASEAN members against Washington.

North Korea is banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions from conducting any tests of nuclear explosive or missile technology, and is already subject to multiple international sanctions. Nevertheless, the North has continued to conduct nuclear tests and test-firing of ballistic missiles in defiance of such international warnings.

Tensions in the South China Sea have always been at the top of the agenda at ASEAN-related meetings and summits over the past few years, but that has now been overtaken by the situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to ASEAN sources.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.