The security council has been debating how to punish North Korea for several days now. Russia and China have not been easy sells..
but now it appears leaders have finally agreed to the language of a proposed resolution.
While diplomats at the United Nations make progress on approving sanctions for North Korea the presidents of China and South Korea met this morning in Beijing to talk about the same issue. The leaders agree to support appropriate sanctions against their communist neighbor punishment for North Korea s reported test of a nuclear weapon. But those sanctions do not include a military response. That option was dropped from a new draft resolution circulated by the U-S at the U-N Thursday night.  US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said, " The council has agreed to put our resolution in blue this afternoon and vote tomorrow morning." The five permanent members of the UN security council and Japan discussed the first US  resolution all week, but weren't able to find common ground. Details of the talks haven't been released, but it appears China and Russia were concerned the sanctions were too severe. Now in addition to losing the military option, the latest proposal also takes away a blanket arms embargoinstead listing specific weapons like tanks and missiles that would be barred.  Meanwhile, Japan is pushing forward with its own sanctions. The nation's Cabinet approved a plan announced earlier this weekone that would close all Japanese ports to North Korean ships and ban all trade with the communist state. The move comes despite North Korea warning that it would take, quote, "strong counter-measures" if japan followed through .