( CNN ) -- The U.N. Security Council is expected to meet Tuesday to consider a proposed resolution to authorize more sanctions against North Korea following the secretive regime 's controversial nuclear test last month . Pyongyang said the underground nuclear blast it conducted on February 12 was more powerful than its two previous detonations and used a smaller , lighter device , suggesting advances in its weapons program . It was the first nuclear test the isolated state has carried out since its young leader , Kim Jong Un , inherited power in December 2011 after the death of his father , Kim Jong Il , who made building up North Korea 's military strength the focus of his 17-year rule . Like the regime 's previous tests in 2006 and 2009 , the move prompted widespread international condemnation , as well as a promise of tough action at the United Nations . The United States and China , a key North Korean ally , have been negotiating for weeks on the wording of the proposed resolution . China 's 'dissatisfaction ' Beijing 's government on Tuesday said it strives for a `` nuclear free peninsula . '' It repeated its support for the U.N. Security Council 's condemnation of North Korea 's nuclear tests but also called for a muted response to it . `` China suggests the UNSC to keep a discreet , proper reaction to avoid the situation from escalating , '' the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a media briefing Tuesday . North Korea 's government regularly rails vehemently against sanctions imposed on it . As a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power , China can strongly influence the body 's decisions and has previously resisted strong sanctions on the Kim regime , which it props up economically . The two communist countries have been close allies , since China backed the North in the Korean War in the 1950s . The United States backed the South in the conflict , fighting side by side with its troops . The two Koreas are still officially in a state of war , though an armistice signed in 1953 ended the bloodshed . Analysts say Beijing wants to maintain the North as a buffer between its border and South Korea , a U.S. ally . Immediately after Pyongyang 's nuclear test , Beijing expressed its `` dissatisfaction , '' noting that it took place `` despite the international community 's widespread opposition . '' Details of the proposed resolution remained unclear late Monday in New York . Russia , another veto holder , will support a resolution on North Korea if it does n't go beyond `` missile and nuclear issues , '' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Tuesday , according to the Russian news agency Interfax . `` A text focused on missile and nuclear issues linked to North Korea will be acceptable for us , '' Gatilov told Interfax . The meeting Tuesday at which the text is expected to be presented is set to begin at 11 a.m. , according to the U.N. media office . A previous Security Council resolution in January that broadened sanctions on North Korea in response to a long-range rocket launch angered Pyongyang . Two days after that resolution was passed , the regime announced it would carry out the nuclear test . The rocket launch in December apparently succeeded in putting a satellite in orbit , a move North Korea said was for peaceful purposes . But the launch was widely considered to be a test of ballistic missile technology . Pyongyang has said its nuclear tests and other weapons programs are a deterrent against the United States and its allies . But North Korean state media regularly publish articles directing aggressive rhetoric against Washington and Seoul . `` North Korea 's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs constitute a threat to U.S. national security and to international peace and security , '' President Barack Obama said after the North 's nuclear test last month . CNN 's Alla Eshchenko contributed to this report .
Tuesday : China expresses its support for the resolutions but has a muted response . The meeting Tuesday is a response to North Korea 's nuclear test last month . The United States and China have been in talks on a proposed resolution . The nuclear test followed a previous U.N. resolution broadening it .