UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash by a third the Asian state’s $3 billion annual export revenue over its two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.

The U.S.-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean laborers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

“We should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem. Not even close. The North Korean threat has not left us, it is rapidly growing more dangerous,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council.

“Further action is required. The United States is taking and will continue to take prudent defensive measures to protect ourselves and our allies,” she said. Washington would continue annual joint military exercises with South Korea, Haley said.

North Korea has accused the United States and South Korea of escalating tensions by conducting military drills.

China and Russia slammed U.S. deployment of the THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea. China’s U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi called for a halt to the deployment and for any equipment in place to be dismantled.

Liu also urged North Korea to “cease taking actions that might further escalate tensions.”

U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the vote in a Twitter message on Saturday evening.

“The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us. Very big financial impact!” Trump wrote.

Trump “appreciates China’s and Russia’s cooperation in securing passage” of the resolution, the White House said in a later statement. The U.S. president “will continue to work with allies and partners to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to ends its threatening and destabilizing behavior,” it said.

U.S. PRESSURE ON CHINA

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he hoped recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “were sincere - that the U.S. is not seeking to dismantle the existing situation or to forcibly unite the peninsula or to militarily intervene in the country.”

While the Security Council has been divided on how to deal with other international crises like Syria, the 15-member body has remained relatively united on North Korea. Still, negotiating new measures typically takes months, not weeks.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The new measures came in response to five nuclear weapons tests and four long-range missile launches.

The United States negotiated with China for a month on the resolution, then expanded negotiations to the full council on Friday.

Washington, frustrated that China has not done more to rein in North Korea, has threatened to exert trade pressure on Beijing and impose sanctions on Chinese firms doing business with Pyongyang.

“We had tough negotiations this week,” Haley told reporters. “I think that the Chinese realized that the United States was going to push, but they responded and we appreciate how they cooperated with us during these negotiations.”

Liu, asked about U.S. negotiating pressure, said China has been consistent on trying to achieve denuclearization, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and “to re-launch negotiations to achieve this end.”

He told reporters China was “opposed to any unilateral sanctions outside the agreed framework set by the U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

RUSSIA/U.S. COOPERATION

It had been unclear whether strained U.S.-Russia relations would hamper negotiations on North Korean sanctions. On Wednesday, Washington imposed unilateral sanctions on Moscow to punish Russia over accusations of interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

“We are not hostages to our relations when we have to work together on issues which are far more important,” Russia’s Nebenzia told Reuters.

The new U.N. resolution adds nine individuals and four entities to the U.N. blacklist, including North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank, subjecting them to a global asset freeze and travel ban.

“I would think China and Russia signed on the sanctions hoping that they would force North Korea back to the negotiating table,” said Thomas Byrne, president of the New York-based Korea Society. “However, North Korea will try to evade the new sanctions.”

The new resolution completely bans North Korean exports of coal. In November, the Security Council capped the North’s coal exports at $400 million annually. China, its largest buyer, halted imports in February.

A U.N. diplomat said North Korea had been expected to earn an estimated $251 million from iron and iron ore in 2017, $113 million from lead and lead ore, and $295 million from seafood. The diplomat said it was difficult to estimate how much North Korea was earning from sending workers abroad.

A United Nations human rights investigator said in 2015 that North Korea had forced more than 50,000 people to work abroad, mainly in Russia and China, earning between $1.2 billion and $2.3 billion a year for the government.

Joseph DeThomas, a former State Department official who worked as an adviser on Iran sanctions and on previous rounds of North Korea sanctions, said freezing foreign labor would be difficult to enforce.

Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasong-14 is pictured during its second test-fire in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on July 29, 2017. KCNA via Reuters

“Overall I doubt that $1 billion number. I doubt it will hit that hard in terms of economic damage,” he said. “You cannot expect North Korea to buckle for anything less than the sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990.”

These sanctions, he said, remain “a very long way” from there.</s>MANILA, Philippines — Southeast Asia's top diplomats slammed North Korea with a sharp rebuke Saturday over its intercontinental ballistic missile tests and admonished Pyongyang to comply with its duty of helping avert conflicts as a member of Asia's biggest security forum.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers, however, were split on an American proposal to suspend Pyongyang from the ASEAN Regional Forum, a 27-nation bloc that includes North Korea and its bitter adversaries the U.S., South Korea and Japan.

The ASEAN ministers reiterated in a joint statement their grave concerns over the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula due to the North's two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month, saying the launches threaten world stability.

The statement came before the United Nations Security Council imposed a round of new sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's ICBM tests.

The U.S.-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean laborers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

The unanimously adopted resolution adds nine individuals and four entities to the U.N. blacklist, including North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank, subjecting them to a global asset freeze and travel ban.

Related: North Korea Hits Out at U.S. Travel Ban

"The North Korean threat ... is rapidly growing more dangerous," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the U.N. Security Council after the 15-member body imposed the new sanctions.

The North's neighbors have been forced to grapple with its continued defiance to international calls for it to stand down on its missile tests and nuclear weapons program.

"These developments seriously threaten peace, security and stability in the region and the world," the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers said in their statement. They urged the North to immediately and fully comply with its obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

They also backed efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas and said their 10-nation bloc was ready "to play a constructive role in contributing to peace and stability" on the Korean Peninsula.

Related: North Korea Crisis: How Events Have Unfolded Under Trump

All the countries involved in the so-called six-party talks aimed at taming the North's nuclear ambitions belong to the ASEAN Regional Forum, but Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said at a news conference Saturday that there was no plan for those nations to meet on the sidelines of the Manila meetings.

North Korea pulled out of the talks — which also include South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia — in 2009 to protest international condemnation of a long-range rocket launch.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the ministers were divided over a U.S. proposal to suspend the North from the ASEAN Regional Forum, which will hold its annual meeting on Monday.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will attend Monday's meeting. With the U.S., Japan and South Korea expected to push for stronger actions against the North, a verbal showdown looms.

"There were views that, 'How can we hear them out or confront them if they're not there?' But there's also a view that we should give them an ultimatum," Cayetano said late Friday after discussing the issue with other foreign ministers.</s>The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Saturday to impose new sanctions on North Korea over the country's long-range missile tests last month.

The measure cuts about $1 billion worth of North Korean exports, or about a third of the country's export revenue each year.

"This resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime," said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. "This is the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.

"And this time, the council has matched its words and actions," she said.

The sanctions ban countries from buying North Korean coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. Other countries will also be barred from increasing the "total number of work authorizations," and banned from creating "new joint ventures" with North Korean businesses or people.

"The United States was able to get a pretty strong resolution here that will hit North Korea where it hurts economically," says Ankit Panda, who writes about North Korea for the online magazine, The Diplomat.

North Korea tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July. The second, experts said, showed the potential to reach the U.S. mainland.

All 15 Security Council members approved the resolution, including Russia and China. China is North Korea's largest trading partner and makes up 85 percent or more of North Korea's total trade.

China's representative to the U.N., Liu Jieyi, said North Korea needed to "cease taking actions that might further escalate tensions," Reuters reported. But Liu also criticized the U.S. role on the Korean peninsula, saying the deployment of a U.S. antimissile system, called THAAD, in South Korea, "will not bring a solution to the issue of [North Korea's] nuclear testing and missile launches."

China fears a spread of U.S. influence in the region, though China and the U.S. agree on wanting to stop North Korea's nuclear development.

North Korea has already faced a decade's worth of ever-increasing sanctions backed by the U.S. and its allies. Not only have there been loopholes in the past that traders and businesses have exploited, but implementation and enforcement of sanctions have been spotty. Despite that, the U.S. and two previous South Korean governments "essentially bought into a sanctions approach to try and stop North Korea," says John Delury, a North Korea watcher who teaches international relations at Seoul's Yonsei University.

"It hasn't worked. So we're doing more of the same," he says. "One thing North Korea is extremely good at is absorbing pain. And the last thing they're going to yield on is their deterrence capability. Because they feel under threat and under siege."

The roles of the U.S. and China

President Trump has used different strategies, from charm to Twitter criticism, to urge China to put more pressure on North Korea over its nuclear program.

"The President appreciates China's and Russia's cooperation in securing passage of this resolution," the White House said in a statement after the measure passed. "He will continue working with allies and partners to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to end its threatening and destabilizing behavior."

But, as Amy King of the Australian National University told NPR's Elise Hu and Anthony Kuhn, the focus on China "abrogates [other countries'] own responsibility, particularly in the case of the U.S." The U.S. could do more on its own to develop a relationship with North Korea, she said.

Speaking at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila, Philippines, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the vote "a good outcome," according to The Associated Press. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha called it "a very, very good outcome."

Representatives from Southeast Asian countries plan to discuss at the summit what other action to take in response to North Korea's recent missile tests.</s>UNITED NATIONS, Aug 6 (APP): The United Nations Security Council on

 Saturday tightened sanctions on North Korea, unanimously voting through a US-drafted resolution that could slash the Asian state’s export revenue by a third, in response to the East Asian country’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

 The move is expected to significantly increase economic pressure on

 North Korea to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programmes by banning mineral and seafood exports worth over $1 billion — a third of its total exports last year.

 United States Ambassador Nikki Haley, who introduced the resolution,

 said the adoption by all 15 members of the Council signified what she called “a strong, united step toward holding North Korea accountable for its behaviour.”

 It would also forbid countries to take in more North Korean laborers,

 enter into new joint ventures with North Korea or invest more in current ones. In addition, nine individuals and four entities have been added to the UN blacklist, including North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank.

 The measures are the first of such magnitude to be imposed on the

 recalcitrant nation since US President Donald Trump took office. Among other things, they indicate a willingness on the part of China to punish its ally and neighbor.

 China and Russia have previously resisted the US push for sanctions.

 Washington began negotiating on the resolution with Beijing a month ago

 in response to North Korea’s first intercontinental ballistic missile test on July 4. That test was followed by a second one on July 28.

 Although severe, the new measures do not provide for the cuts to oil

 deliveries to North Korea that were initially proposed by the United States.

 North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic

 missile and nuclear programmes.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

3 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash by a third the Asian state's US$3 billion annual export revenue over Pyongyang's two July intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

The U.S.-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean labourers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

"We should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem. Not even close. The North Korean threat has not left us, it is rapidly growing more dangerous," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council.

"Further action is required. The United States is taking and will continue to take prudent defensive measures to protect ourselves and our allies," she said, adding that Washington would continue annual joint military exercises with South Korea.

North Korea has accused the United States and South Korea of escalating tensions by conducting military drills.

North Korean ally China and Russia both slammed the U.S. deployment of the THAAD anti-missile defence system in South Korea. China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi called for a halt to the deployment and for any equipment in place to be dismantled.

Liu also urged North Korea to "cease taking actions that might further escalate tensions."

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he hoped recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "were sincere - that the U.S. is not seeking to dismantle the existing (North Korea) situation or to forcibly unite the peninsula or to militarily intervene in the country."

While the Security Council has been divided on how to deal with other international crises like Syria, the 15-member body has remained relatively united on North Korea. Still, negotiating new measures typically takes months, not weeks.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the Security Council has now ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear weapons tests and four long-range missile launches.

The United States negotiated with China for a month on the latest resolution, before expanding negotiations to the full 15-member council on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been frustrated that China has not done more to rein in North Korea. Washington has threatened to exert trade pressure on Beijing and impose sanctions on Chinese firms doing business with Pyongyang.

"We had tough negotiations this week," Haley told reporters. "I think that the Chinese realized that the United States was going to push, but they responded and we appreciate how they cooperated with us during these negotiations."

Liu, asked about the role of U.S. pressure in negotiations, said China has been consistent on its aim of achieving denuclearisation, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and trying "to re-launch negotiations to achieve this end."

"We are opposed to any unilateral sanctions outside the agreed framework set by the U.N. Security Council resolutions," he told reporters.

It had also been unclear whether poor relations between Russia and the United States would hamper negotiations on new North Korean sanctions. Washington imposed new unilateral sanctions on Moscow on Wednesday to punish Russia over accusations of interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.

"We are not hostages to our relations when we have to work together on issues which are far more important than our bilateral relations low," Nebenzia told Reuters.

The new U.N. resolution also adds nine individuals and four entities to the U.N. blacklist, including North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank, subjecting them to a global asset freeze and travel ban.

In November the Security Council capped North Korean coal exports at US$400 million annually, though China - its largest buyer - halted imports in February. The resolution adopted on Saturday completely bans North Korean exports of coal.

A U.N. diplomat said North Korea had been expected to earn an estimated US$251 million from iron and iron ore in 2017, US$113 million from lead and lead ore and US$295 million from seafood. The diplomat said it was difficult to estimate how much North Korea was earning from sending workers abroad.

A United Nations human rights investigator said in 2015 that North Korea has forced more than 50,000 people to work abroad, mainly in Russia and China, earning between US$1.2 billion and US$2.3 billion a year for the country's government.</s>The United States is aiming for a United Nations Security Council vote on Saturday to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea over its two intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests in July, diplomats said on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on Saturday on a U.S.-drafted resolution that aims to slash by a third North Korea's US$3 billion annual export revenue over Pyongyang's two intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests in July.

A council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a "high confidence" that North Korea ally China and Russia would support the draft resolution, which was circulated to the 15 Security Council members on Friday.

The council is due to vote at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). A resolution needs nine votes in favour, and no vetoes by the United States, China, Russia, France or Britain, to be adopted.

The draft resolution would ban North Korea's exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It would also prohibit countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean labourers working abroad, ban new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

"These are export sectors where this money is viewed as a critical, critical source of hard currency that the North immediately turns around into its fantastically expensive war machine and these just amazingly expensive ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs," the diplomat said.

"These sanctions are not targeted at the people of North Korea," the diplomat said.

The draft resolution would also add nine individuals and four entities to the U.N. blacklist, including North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank, subjecting them to a global asset freeze and travel ban.

The United States and China have been negotiating the draft text for the past month. Typically, they agree sanctions on North Korea before formally involving other council members.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been frustrated that China has not done more to rein in North Korea and Washington has threatened to impose new sanctions on Chinese firms doing business with Pyongyang.

"The Trump administration should issue new sanctions against China at the same time the new resolution is adopted as Beijing is still violating U.S. law by allowing its companies, individuals, and banks to facilitate North Korea's sanctions evasion," said Anthony Ruggiero, a Foundation for Defence of Democracies senior fellow and former U.S. Treasury official.

China has also been upset by possible moves by the Trump administration to exert trade pressure on Beijing.

"(The draft) appears to reflect a compromise between the U.S. and China in several areas," Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said. "It notably does not include any reduction in Chinese crude oil shipments to North Korea."

While supportive of new U.N. action, Security Council member Sweden said sanctions alone could not solve the problem.

"More creative diplomacy is urgently needed. A long-term solution can only be achieved through dialogue and negotiations," said Sweden's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Carl Skau.

The United States had been informally keeping Britain and France in the loop on the bilateral negotiations, while U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said China had been sharing the draft and negotiating with Russia.

It has not been clear if poor relations between Russia and the United States, which imposed new unilateral sanctions on Moscow on Wednesday, would hamper negotiations.

Moscow has disagreed with assessments by Western powers that Pyongyang launched two long-range missiles, saying they were mid-range. Diplomats say China and Russia only view a test of a long-range missile or a nuclear weapon as a trigger for further possible U.N. sanctions.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the Security Council has ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear weapons tests and two long-range missile launches.

The U.N. diplomat said North Korea has been estimated to earn in 2017 US$400 million from coal, US$251 million from iron and iron ore, US$113 million from lead and lead ore and US$295 million from seafood. The diplomat said it was difficult to estimate how much North Korea was earning from sending workers abroad.

A United Nations human rights investigator said in 2015 that North Korea has forced more than 50,000 people to work abroad, mainly in Russia and China, earning the country between US$1.2 billion and US$2.3 billion a year for the government.</s>Washington: The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to impose the new sanctions on North Korea, banning exports that supply up to a third of the country's annual $US3 billion ($3.7 billion) earnings.

The US-sponsored resolution is the most punitive against the rogue state in 11 years and comes in response to North Korea's launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month, activities prohibited under existing UN resolutions.

The sanctions ban North Korea's largest export, coal, along with exports of iron and iron ore, lead and lead ore, and seafood. Together, those exports amount to more than $US1 billion a year in income for Pyongyang.

The measure's unanimous approval was a diplomatic victory for the Trump administration and partly reflected growing impatience with North Korea by China. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on China to exert more pressure on its neighbour over its nuclear belligerence.

Whether Trump's badgering played any role in China's support for the resolution is unclear. But its willingness to enforce the resolution's provisions will be critical to its effectiveness.

China's ambassador to the United Nations, Liu Jieyi, hinted at his country's vexation with North Korea in his Security Council remarks after the vote. He urged North Korean authorities to "cease taking actions that might further escalate tensions".

But Mr Liu also criticised the US, calling for dismantlement of the THAAD missile defence system it has begun installing in South Korea.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council the vote showed Pyongyang that the world was united in seeking to end its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But "we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem," Mrs Haley said. "Not even close. The North Korean threat has not left us."

She said the US had no plans to decrease its military exercises with South Korea, despite calls from China and Russia to do so, in exchange for gradual deescalation of its prohibited weapons activities.

Both Beijing and Moscow, in casting their votes for the new sanctions, said they appreciated statements by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week that the US does not seek North Korea's collapse, replacement of its government or "accelerated reunification" of the Korean peninsula, and has no intention of send troops there.

"Our hope is that the United States will translate these 'four no's' into a firm policy," Mr Liu told the council.

And he repeated THAAD would "not bring a solution" to the crisis."What it will do is to seriously undermine the strategic balance of the region."

China also called for the resumption of talks between North Korea, regional powers and the United States. Last Week, Mr Tillerson said Washington was interested in a "productive dialogue," but only on the basis of Pyongyang's acceptance of nuclear disarmament.

"We don't think having a dialogue where the North Koreans come to the table assuming they're going to maintain their nuclear weapons is productive," he said.

China accounts for 90 per cent of North Korea's economic activity. Passage of the new resolution follows nearly a month of US-Chinese negotiations over the text, bolstered with Trump administration warnings that it was preparing to lodge unrelated complaints against Beijing at the World Trade Organisation.

It condemns the long-range missile tests, and reminds North Korea that tests of both the missiles and nuclear weapons are prohibited by previous resolutions.

In addition to banning exports, the resolution also prohibits all countries from increasing the number of North Korean labourers they employ, prohibits any new joint ventures and commercial agreements with North Korea, and increased investment in existing ventures.

The goal is to prevent North Korea's access to hard currency, which Mrs Haley and other delegates said are not used for the welfare of the North Korean people. The US had initially hoped to ban oil exports and additional banking and commercial penalties, which were opposed by China and Russia.

Although UN sanctions were first imposed in 2006 against North Korea, they have not prevented tests of five nuclear warheads and four long-range missile launches since then, including the two launches in July.</s>The United Nations Security Council on Saturday passed a resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea for its continued intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing and violations of UN resolutions.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, speaking at the Security Council meeting where the vote took place, said the international organization had to respond quickly to North Korea’s recent agitations.

“Monday, we said that the time for talking was over and that it was time for action,” Haley said. “Today, you’re going to see the action. It’s going to hit hard, but it’s going to make a strong point to North Korea that all this ICBM and this nuclear irresponsibility has to stop.”

Two recent ICBM launches by North Korea prompted a call for action by many UN members.

With 15 votes in favor, Resolution 2371 was passed unanimously.

The resolution targets North Korea’s primary exports, including coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. The sanctions also target other revenue streams, such as banks and joint ventures with foreign companies.

The sanctions will slash North Korea’s annual export revenue of $3 billion by more than a third, according to a statement from Haley’s office.

The resolution represents “the strongest sanctions ever imposed in response to a ballistic missile test,” the statement said.</s>The Latest on the U.N. Security Council approving sanctions against North Korea. (all times local):

U.S. President Donald Trump is tweeting his support for tough new sanctions against North Korea unanimously approved by the U.N. Security Council.

"The United Nations Security Council just voted 15-0 to sanction North Korea. China and Russia voted with us. Very big financial impact!" he said on Twitter.

The sanctions against North Korea for its escalating nuclear and missile programs include a ban on coal and other exports worth over $1 billion — a huge bite in its total exports, valued at $3 billion last year.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution "the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime" and "the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation."

But she warned that it is not enough and "we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem — not even close."

"The threat of an outlaw nuclearized North Korean dictatorship remains ... (and) is rapidly growing more dangerous," Haley told council members after the vote.

The U.S.-drafted resolution, negotiated with North Korea's neighbor and ally China, is aimed at increasing economic pressure on Pyongyang to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs — a point stressed by all 15 council members in speeches after the vote.

The Security Council has already imposed six rounds of sanctions that have failed to halt North Korea's drive to improve its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities.

The resolution's adoption follows North Korea's first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States on July 3 and July 27.</s>The United States is aiming for a United Nations Security Council vote on Saturday to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea over its two intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests in July, diplomats said on Friday.

The United States is set to circulate a copy of the draft resolution to all 15 members of the council on Friday, signaling a likely agreement by North Korean ally China to impose new measures, diplomats said.

A resolution needs nine votes in favor, and no vetoes by the United States, China, Russia, France or Britain to be adopted.

The United States and China have been negotiating the draft text for the past month. Typically, they agree sanctions on North Korea before formally involving other council members.

The United States has been informally keeping Britain and France in the loop on the bilateral negotiations, while U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said China had been sharing the draft and negotiating with Russia.

It was not immediately clear if poor relations between Russia and the United States, which imposed new unilateral sanctions on Moscow on Wednesday, would hamper the negotiations.

Moscow has disagreed with assessments by Western powers that Pyongyang launched two long-range missiles, saying they were mid-range. Diplomats say China and Russia only view a test of a long-range missile or a nuclear weapon as a trigger for further possible U.N. sanctions.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the Security Council has ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear weapons tests and two long-range missile launches.
The United Nations Security Council votes 15–0 to impose sanctions on North Korea for its intercontinental ballistic missile tests.