The AFP has reported the United Nations is poised to authorize a U.S. proposal aimed at facilitating humanitarian aid to North Korea blocked by standing international sanctions on the regime. 

The news agency said it acquired documents showing the UN Security Council’s North Korea sanction committee's plans to approve proposed guidelines on Monday. 

Put forward by the U.S. last month, the guidelines provide clear instructions to aid organizations and governments in getting humanitarian exemptions from the UN sanctions on the regime. 

The move appears to run counter to Washington’s recent claims that maximum pressure needs to be maintained on the North to compel it to follow up on its pledge to denuclearize. 

A U.S. official told the AFP that the guidelines would ensure "only critical, life-saving humanitarian activities needed in North Korea can continue.”