The U.N. Security Council on Saturday imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea that would slash the reclusive country's $3 billion annual export revenue by a third in response to Pyongyang's two long-range missile tests in July.

The 15-member council unanimously adopted a sanctions resolution after Pyongyang conducted two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in defiance of past U.N. resolutions banning its nuclear and ballistic missile activity.

The U.S.-drafted resolution seeks to ban North Korea from exporting coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood so as to curb funding sources for the Kim Jong Un leadership's nuclear and missile ambitions.

It also aims to forbid U.N. member countries to increase the number of North Korean laborers working abroad, such as in Russia, China and beyond.

The price the North Korean leadership will pay for its continued nuclear and missile development will be the loss of one third of its exports and hard currency.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley hailed the resolution, saying after its adoption, "This is the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation."

The latest marks the seventh Security Council sanctions resolution imposed on North Korea since 2006, when it carried out its first nuclear test.

There has been a big push by the United States to see it passed close to a month after the launch of Pyongyang's first ICBM on July 4. A second ICMB was fired off on July 28.

Washington has managed to muster support from China, the key benefactor of North Korea, as well as from Russia, which had been opposed to the sanctions, by compromising some of its major goals in negotiations.

The United States pressed for more biting sanctions measures, having previously floated the idea of an oil embargo and a global ban on Pyongyang's national airline Air Koryo, for example.

But China was more hesitant to do so. China along with Russia has always stressed the importance of seeking a diplomatic solution to calm the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho restated Tokyo's belief that now is not the right time to seek dialogue with North Korea but to ratchet up pressure on it.

"It is clear to everyone at this point that North Korea is nowhere near to resuming a meaningful dialogue. In order to change North Korea's behavior, we have no choice but to continue to increase pressure," he said.

The resolution condemns the recent ICBM tests "in the strongest terms" and repeated calls for Pyongyang to suspend all ballistic missile launches and give up its nuclear weapons program "in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."

Also contained in the sanctions resolution is a new set of designations imposing asset freezes and travel bans on North Koreans who are deemed to be responsible for the illicit activities.

Among other new items is the prohibition of all new joint ventures between foreign companies and North Korean firms and for existing joint ventures there is a ban on new investments.