UNITED NATIONS (AP) – America on Thursday introduced a new draft resolution in the Security Council to punish North Korea for its reported nuclear test and said it wants a vote on Friday.

Russia urged America not to rush the vote, saying Moscow still had differences and America should wait for the results of a flurry of high-level diplomacy. China backed Russia’s call, saying Beijing would welcome more talks so the Security Council can send a united and forceful message to Pyongyang condemning the test.

After formally introducing the resolution in the Security Council, Ambassador Bolton told reporters that Washington wants a vote Friday.

“I think the council should try to respond to a nuclear test within the same week that the test occurred,” he said. “We’re certainly in favor of keeping all the diplomatic channels open, but we also want swift action, and we shouldn’t allow meetings, and more meetings … to be an excuse for inaction.”

America and Japan had initially hoped for a vote Thursday. But if Washington wants to get China and Russia – the two countries closest to North Korea – on board, a vote is likely be delayed until next week.

China appeared to shy away from backing American efforts to impose a travel ban and financial sanctions on the North, saying any U.N. action should focus on bringing its communist neighbor back to talks.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said North Korea should understand it had made a mistake but “punishment should not be the purpose” of any U.N. response.

U.N. action “should be conducive to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula … and the resumption of the talks,” he told reporters. “It’s necessary to express clearly to North Korea that … the international community is opposed to this nuclear test.”

Japan is imposing its own new sanctions against North Korea. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party approved several harsh measures Thursday, including limits on imports and a ban on all North Korean ships in Japanese waters.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said a high-level Chinese representative was en route to Moscow for talks Friday and Saturday, and Russia’s deputy foreign minister is in the region.

“So there is a lot of diplomatic activity going on and we hope it will produce a good product,” he said.

A special envoy of President Hu met President Bush in Washington on Wednesday, andPresident Roh is due Friday in Beijing for talks with China’s top leaders, he said.

Like the original American draft circulated Monday, the new one would condemn the nuclear test, demand that North Korea immediately return to six-party talks without precondition, and impose sanctions for Pyongyang’s “flagrant disregard” of the council’s appeal. It adds new words demanding that North Korea “not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile.”

It also would encourage all concerned countries “to intensify their diplomatic efforts to facilitate the early resumption of the six-party talks, with a view to achieving the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and to maintaining peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and in northeast Asia.”

Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya welcomed this addition, which he said was proposed by China.

The new draft remains under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which includes a range of measures to deal with threats to international peace and conflicts from breaking diplomatic relations to imposing naval blockades and taking military action.

While China says North Korea should face tough action, it wants sanctions to be limited primarily to the North’s nuclear program.

Wang reiterated that sanctions should be limited to the nonmilitary measures authorized under Article 41 of the U.N. Charter, which include economic penalties, breaking diplomatic relations or banning air travel.

The revised American draft makes no mention of Article 41, and maintains some military sanctions.

It again requires all member states to prevent the sale or transfer of arms, luxury goods, and material and technology which could contribute to North Korea’s nuclear, ballistic missile or other weapons of mass destruction-related programs. In a new proposal, the items subject to sanctions would be set out in an annex to the resolution, or come from a country’s own list, or be determined by a new Security Council committee to monitor implementation of sanctions.

The new draft would impose a travel ban on people supporting North Korea’s nuclear, ballistic missile and other weapons-related programs – a Japanese proposal.

The North will consider increased American pressure “a declaration of war,” RI Kong Son, vice spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with AP Television News in Pyongyang. He said North Korea would take unspecified “physical countermeasures.”

Song Il Ho, a North Korean envoy to Japan, gave a similar warning to Tokyo. “We will take strong countermeasures,” he told Kyodo News Agency.

Since Pyongyang announced it conducted its first test Monday, there have been daily South Korean and Japanese news reports that the North is preparing another.

On Thursday, the South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo quoted an unidentified source familiar with North Korean affairs as saying a second test would occur in two or three days.

South Korean scientists have been scrambling for signs of radioactivity that would confirm Monday’s underground test. Han Seung-jae, an official at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, said experts were still unsure the North had tested a nuclear device.

“So far, we have not detected any abnormal level of radioactivity” in South Korea, he said.

Japanese military planes have also been monitoring for radioactivity in the atmosphere but have reported no abnormal readings.

North Korea has been demanding direct talks with America, but Mr. Bush refused to agree to such a meeting in a news conference Wednesday, arguing that Pyongyang would be more likely to listen to the protests of many nations.

Mr. Bush added that America was ready to defend its allies in the region, but that it would also try to use diplomacy to deal with North Korea.