UNITED NATIONS, New York (AFP) – The United States and Japan challenged China and Russia to back sanctions against North Korea on Friday, calling for a UN Security Council vote on the Stalinist state’s missile tests.

Japanese ambassador Kenzo Oshima presented a binding draft resolution to the council, hours after Pyongyang warned any imposition of sanctions would be regarded as “an act of war.”

“We hope that it will be adopted when it is put to a vote with the broad unanimity of the council,” Oshima said.

Veto-wielding China and Russia oppose the text, however, and would prefer a milder, non-binding statement condemning Wednesday’s volley of tests, but stripped of punitive measures.

Oshima said a vote could come as early as today.

Despite clear discord among key powers, US president George W Bush said the world must unite to rebuke the reclusive Stalinist state’s leader.

“What matters most of all is for Kim Jong-Il to see the world speak with one voice,” Bush said during a press conference in Chicago.

But the US president noticeably did not make a public push for sanctions against Pyongyang, as the haggling went on at the UN.

North Korea itself was warned any adoption of sanctions could deepen the crisis.