Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi condemned Iraq on Friday for failing for more than a decade to carry out its obligations under United Nations resolutions, and urged Baghdad to clear suspicions over its possession of weapons of mass destruction.

"Iraq needs to fulfill U.N. resolutions and completely wipe out the concerns among the international community," Kawaguchi told the Diet. "(Iraq) is challenging the authority of the U.N."

In her foreign policy speech, Kawaguchi vowed to continue pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and retract its decision to pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.