Kyodo News reported that Washington and Beijing have reached agreement on a significant portion of the draft UN resolution over North Korea’s most recent nuclear test in September.  

Quoting multiple diplomatic sources, the Japanese news agency said Wednesday that there is a possibility that the U.S. and China have narrowed differences over Washington’s request on China to strengthen the regulation the trade of North Korean mineral resources, including coal.

Kyodo said as China accepts the draft resolution, there will be progress on the stalled discussion at the UN Security Council(UNSC) on slapping the North with a new set of sanctions.

The U.S. and China are holding talks with the other permanent members of the UNSC which include the U.K., France and Russia. However, Russia is known to be expressing opposition to some parts of the draft resolution.

Observers expect that it will take some more time before the UNSC resolves all differences among the members and adopts a new resolution against the North.

In Resolution 2270 adopted in March, the UNSC banned in principle the international trade of North Korean coal, which accounts for a significant portion of the regime's mineral resource trade.

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