The US intends to pursue a UN Security Council resolution calling for political change in military-ruled Burma, in an effort to increase diplomatic pressure on the junta to engage with the country’s pro-democracy advocates.

Sean McCormack, US State Department spokesman, said late on Wednesday that Washington wanted the UN to act to “underscore the international community’s concerns about the situation in Burma including the unjustifiable detention of a great champion of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi”.