The US has proposed a range of new United Nations sanctions against North Korea, including an oil ban and a freeze on leader Kim Jong-un’s assets.
The draft resolution circulated to the Security Council members comes after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and repeated missile launches.
Pyongyang also claims to have developed a hydrogen bomb and continues to threaten to strike the US.
China and Russia are both expected to oppose further sanctions. North Korea is already under highly restrictive sanctions imposed by the UN that are intended to force the leadership to curtail its weapons programmes.
In August, a new round of sanctions banned exports including coal, costing North Korea an estimated $1bn (£767m) – about a third of its entire export economy.
But some trade avenues remain open to it.
The draft US proposal calls for a total ban on supplying a range of oil products to North Korea and a ban on its textile export industry.
It also suggests freezing the assets of Mr Kim and the North Korean government, as well as banning him and other senior officials from travelling. North Korean labourers would also be banned from working abroad.
Remittances from foreign earnings and textile exports are two of the most important remaining sources of income for North Korea.
But the US is expected to face opposition from China and Russia, which both supply oil to North Korea and wield vetoes at the Security Council.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that the amount of oil his country exports to North Korea – some 40,000 tonnes – is negligible.
“It is not worth giving in to emotions and driving North Korea into a corner,” he said.
China is both North Korea’s and the US’ biggest trade partner and has supported recent sanctions against it.
But both China and Russia have been pushing for an alternative solution.
