The U.N. General Assembly has officially adopted for the fifth straight year a resolution urging improvement in North Korea's human rights situation.

Ninety-nine U.N. member states including the U.S., Japan and Germany voted for the bill. Twenty countries opposed including China and Malaysia, and 63 abstained.

The resolution says the U.N. is concerned over Pyongyang's grave violations of human rights and urges an immediate halt to them. The U.N. also asks the North to return foreign nationals it kidnapped to their respective home countries.

The resolution is not legally binding but will serve as the U.N. basis to seek continued measures on the North's human rights issue.