The United States has asked the UN Security Council to begin an oil embargo on North Korea and freeze the assets of leader Kim Jong-un, in response to Pyongyang’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

A US-drafted resolution also called for banning textile exports and ending payments made to North Korean laborers sent abroad, further depriving the regime of revenue to pursue its military programs.

The United States circulated the proposed resolution to the 14 other council members on Wednesday, two days after its ambassador, Nikki Haley, called for the "strongest possible measures" to be imposed on North Korea.

Haley said on Monday that the United States was seeking a vote on the new sanctions on September 11.

The draft text takes aim directly at North Korea’s leadership with a freeze on leader Kim’s assets as well as those of the ruling Worker’s Party of Korea and the government of North Korea.