US formally requests for a UNSC vote on North Korea

The US has formally requested a United Nations Security Council vote on Monday to impose tough new sanctions against North Korea despite resistance from China and Russia.

Washington has presented a draft UN resolution calling for an oil embargo on North Korea, an assets freeze on its leader Kim Jong-Un, a ban on textiles and an end to payments of North Korean guest workers.

Diplomatic sources said Russia and China opposed the measures as a whole, except for the ban of textiles, during a meeting of experts on Friday.

"This evening, the United States informed the UN Security Council that it intends to call a meeting to vote on a draft resolution to establish additional sanctions on North Korea on Monday, September 11," a statement from the US mission to the UN read.

The US wants tough sanctions to be imposed to maximise pressure on Pyongyang to come to the table and negotiate an end to its nuclear and missile tests.

The proposed sanctions would be the toughest-ever imposed on North Korea and seek to punish Pyongyang for its sixth and largest nuclear test.

Britain has given early backing to the measure.

Lavrov says call for UNSC vote too early

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier said it was too early to talk about a vote at the Security Council on new North Korea sanctions, insisting any pressure should be balanced against restarting talks.

"Work is currently going on over a new resolution in the Security Council and it is still early to make predictions about its final form," Lavrov said at a news conference with French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian.

"Along with pressure on the North Korean regime to induce it to abandon provocations in the implementation of its nuclear and missile programmes, it is necessary to emphasize and increase the priority of efforts to resume the political process," he said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that new sanctions will not help persuade Kim to drop his nuclear programme. 

Security Council permanent member Moscow has not said explicitly however that it will veto the US plans.