A draft U.N. resolution aimed at imposing more stringent sanctions on North Korea after its nuclear test and rocket launch is expected to curtail bilateral trade between Pyongyang and its ally China, but it remains to be seen how far Beijing will go in limiting trade with the country.

The draft resolution came after an agreement between the United States and China, which has been reluctant to put crippling economic sanctions against North Korea due to fears over a collapse of the North Korean economy.

For the first time, the draft calls for the U.N. Security Council to impose "sectoral sanctions on the DPRK (North Korea) -- limiting, and in some instances banning outright, exports from the DPRK of coal, iron, gold, titanium, and rare earth minerals," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power told reporters in New York.

If adopted, the draft resolution would impose financial sanctions targeting North Korean banks and assets, and ban aviation and rocket fuel supplies from going to the North.

The proposed sanctions would also ground North Korean flights suspected of carrying contraband, and suspicious vessels carrying illicit items would be denied access to ports, Power said.

China is North Korea's top trading partner and supplies almost all of the North's energy needs.

Whenever the U.N. Security Council votes on a resolution on North Korea, China has raised the issue that harsher measures could create a lot of suffering for the people of North Korea.

Last year, North Korea's exports of mineral resources to China, including coal and iron, totaled US$1.32 billion, accounting for more than a half of the North's total exports to China.

If China fully bans imports of North Korean mineral resources it would cut the North's economic growth rate by 4.3 percentage points, according to a recent report by the North Korea Resource Institute, a Seoul-based think tank.

Speaking to a forum hosted by the Center for International and Strategic Studies think tank in Washington, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said bilateral trade with North Korea will be affected "to some extent" for the denuclearization of North Korea.

But Wang made it clear that "normal exchanges" with North Korea, particularly for the livelihood of the North Korean people, should not be affected by a new U.N. resolution.

A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party echoed the remarks by Wang.

"We support that China should stick to its own stance on the sanctions, and cushion Washington's harsh sanctions to some extent. The U.S., South Korea and Japan should not expect that China follows their lead," the Global Times newspaper said in an editorial on Friday.

"China insists the sanctions should focus on striking at North Korea's ability to continue developing nuclear weapons," the editorial reads.

"It is the fundamental difference between China's policy and that of the U.S., South Korea and Japan. China holds unswerving goodwill toward North Korea, which Chinese society hopes Pyongyang can understand," it said. (Yonhap)