UNITED NATIONS, United States — The United States presented a draft UN Security Council resolution on Thursday that would impose new sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, diplomats said.

The text -- drafted in agreement with China -- was expected to be submitted to a Council vote on Friday.

The text of the draft, a copy of which AFP obtained, again condemns "in the strongest terms" Pyongyang’s series of nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

The Council calls on the North to "abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner," and end all ballistic missile test launches.

An annex to the resolution adds to an already lengthy blacklist another 14 individuals and four entities accused of contributing to the missile programmes whose assets would be frozen and who would face a travel ban.

Those listed are bank and corporate executives involved in military financing, or officials in North Korea’s Workers’ Party.

For weeks, the United States has been negotiating with China on how to respond to Pyongyang’s missile tests.

Washington is counting on Beijing to bring the North in line.

"China has agreed to this text... and the American idea is to move rather quickly," one Council diplomat said.

The diplomat added that none of the Council’s five veto-wielding permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- have threatened to block the resolution.

The North has carried out two atomic tests and dozens of missile launches since the beginning of last year in its quest to develop a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States -- something President Donald Trump has vowed "won’t happen".

The Security Council had threatened to boost sanctions against Pyongyang after one of its May test launches.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Tuesday that she believed Washington and Beijing could reach a deal on new sanctions by week’s end. — AFP