The United States and China have come to an agreement on a new U.N. resolution that will impose strict sanctions on North Korea in response to the pariah state’s recent rocket launch and nuclear test, U.N. diplomats said on Wednesday.

A Security Council diplomat, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said that a draft of the resolution is “significantly substantive” and said there was hope that it would be implemented in the days ahead.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Wednesday that both countries were “on the brink” of sealing a strong U.N. Security Council resolution against Kim Jong-un’s regime.

Kerry and the diplomats’ comments come after the former met with China’s Foreign Secretary Wang Yi. Wang also met with U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday.

National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said that Wang and Rice agreed “on the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea’s provocations, including through a U.N. Security Council resolution that goes beyond previous resolutions.”

He added: “They agreed that they will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.”

Earlier this month, North Korea launched a satellite, attached to a rocket, into space for what it claimed was for scientific and “peaceful purposes” in a move that drew international condemnation. In January, Pyongyang conducted an underground hydrogen bomb test, prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.

South Korea, which neighbors the North, has called on the U.N. to impose tough sanctions in response to what it considers to be provocative actions. Seoul was joined in calling for moves to halt North Korea’s nuclear development by the U.S., Japan and other allies.

All three subsequently adopted unilateral steps against North Korea but the new U.S.-China agreement is the first concrete action by Beijing against its diplomatic ally.

Brussels (AFP) - The EU has until a March 7 summit with Turkey to curb the number of migrants coming to Europe or else the bloc's migration system might "completely break down", migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Thursday.

"In the next 10 days, we need tangible and clear results on the ground. Otherwise there is a risk that the whole system will completely break down," Avramopoulos told a press conference after interior ministers dealing with the crisis met in Brussels.

The EU official also warned of an imminent humanitarian crisis in Greece, the main arrival point for migrants in Europe, or on the western Balkans route most take to richer northern European countries.

"The situation is very critical. The possibility of a humanitarian crisis is very real and very near," Avramopoulos said.

The EU-Turkey summit promises to be crucial, both for the deal that Brussels and Ankara signed in November to cut migrant flows, and for the unity of the European Union on coping with the biggest such crisis in its history.

Avramopoulos urged EU states to work together and avoid "unilateral actions", such as the border controls that several countries have reintroduced and caps on asylum seeker numbers brought in by Austria which have left thousands of refugees stranded between member states.

The border controls threaten Europe's Schengen free travel area that spans 26 countries.

"We cannot continue to deal through unilateral, bilateral or trilateral actions; the first negative effects and impacts are already visible," Avramopoulos said.

"We have a shared responsibility –- all of us -– towards our neighbouring states, both EU and non-EU, but also towards those desperate people."

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's once-tight unity is being rapidly eroded as hundreds of thousands of refugees and other migrants walk a well-trodden path through the Balkans and into the bloc's heartland.

Greece on Thursday took the tensions to a new level, recalling its ambassador from Vienna in anger after Austria and other Balkan nations held a meeting that could put more pressure on Athens to deal with the migrants. Diplomats saw no precedent in recent EU history for such a move.

As some EU countries move to restrict new entries, those further south and east fear that thousands of migrants will get stuck and overwhelm their nations. That has prompted several to start acting unilaterally, showing little concern for coordinating with their EU partners.

"Right now the unity of the union and lives — human lives — are at stake," said EU migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos at Thursday's meeting of the bloc's 28 interior ministers to assess the rapidly deteriorating situation.

The fear of crumbling unity has spread like wildfire throughout the EU in the last few days. Some see the lack of a common response to the continent's immigration crisis as a Litmus test for the bloc. EU President Donald Tusk has been warning about an unraveling of unity for weeks but the EU now seems to be unable to stop it.

There are even fears that the migration crisis could even fuel the "out" campaign for Britain's EU membership referendum on June 23.

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Refugees and migrants are helped by volunteers after their arrival on a dinghy from the Turkish coas …

The impact of increasing go-it-alone new border restrictions and refugee quotas was evident on the ground Thursday on Greece's border with Macedonia. Some 2,800 people massed to get into Macedonia but only 100 were allowed to cross.

The bottleneck came after Macedonia severely restricted the number and nationalities of people it is allowing to travel across its territory and continue north toward more prosperous European countries. Macedonian officials have said the move comes in response to similar actions by countries further up along the route, including Serbia and Austria.

"The police kept stopping us, but I couldn't wait," 23-year-old Syrian university student Walaa Jbara said near the border, clutching his smartphone. "I'm checking the news on Facebook, and I know the Macedonians are not letting people through."

Greece is getting increasingly angry about such policies. The government recalled its ambassador from Vienna following a meeting there Wednesday where Austria and many regional European neighbors agreed to tighter border controls — but did not invite Greece.

The border closures are squeezing Greece between the Balkan nations to the north and Turkey, where most of the refugees are coming from. If northern nations did fully close their borders, Greece's refugee reception capacity could become overwhelmed within days.

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Refugees stand in queue to receive food distributed by a non-governmental organization at a refugee …

NATO is beginning a surveillance mission in the sea between Greece and Turkey and its decision to return any rescued migrants to Turkey could help relieve some pressure on Greek reception centers.

But Greek Deputy Interior Minister Ioannis Mouzalas said his nation refuses to become "a warehouse of souls." He declared that, in the wake of border restrictions that were not common EU decisions, "Greece too, can take unilateral action." Mouzalas threatened to block decisions at a March 7 EU immigration summit if the sharing of the refugee burden was not made obligatory for member states.

Hungary, increasingly a recalcitrant EU member since Prime Minister Viktor Orban came to power in 2010, has called for a national referendum on the EU's plan for mandatory quotas for refugees. The EU head office said it fails to understand how such a vote could affect a decision already made by all EU nations, including Hungary.

The EU plans to share 160,000 migrants who have already arrived in overburdened Greece and Italy with other EU nations over two years. But so far, barely 600 people have been relocated, and only some EU nations have offered places for them — fewer than 5,000 spots in all.

An immigration dispute has even erupted between Belgium and France, two founding nations who have almost always stood side-by-side in the 60-year history of the union.

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Migrants are helped by volunteers after their arrival on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to Mytilene …

On Thursday, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve criticized its northern neighbor for tightening border controls over concerns about a flood of migrants from a camp in France. Belgium has sent up to 290 extra police officers to their common border after French authorities moved to close a migrant camp in Calais.

Cazeneuve described Belgium's move as "a strange decision" and rejected fears that hundreds of migrants would soon move into Belgium.

In Germany — the destination of choice for many migrants — lawmakers on Thursday approved a package of measures to speed up migrant processing and cut the number of newcomers.

The package foresees special centers being set up to quickly process migrants who have little realistic chance of winning asylum. It also means some asylum-seekers — likely including Syrians — will have to wait longer to bring their relatives to Germany. Laws were also approved to increase the deportations of foreigners convicted of crimes.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers last year and officials are keen to ensure that number is lower this year.

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Kantouris reported from Idomeni, Greece. Lorne Cook in Brussels, Derek Gatopoulos in Athens and David Rising and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to the story.

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