U.S. says North Korea unlikely to take military action

By Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - North Korea is unlikely to respond militarily to planned U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test, although the possibility should not be completely dismissed, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.

The draft U.N. Security Council resolution, written by the United States and endorsed by the four other permanent members plus Japan and South Korea, aims to hit the North's meagre finances and authorise inspections of its cargo shipments. It is scheduled to be put to the vote on Friday.

"I don't think that there has been a commensurate change in the posture of the North Korean military that would suggest an attempt to undertake operations," Gates told reporters as he arrived in Brussels for a meeting of NATO defence ministers.

But he said Pyongyang was so unpredictable that it was probably "not wise" to dismiss out of hand North Korean threats of military action.

A Russian foreign ministry source, quoted by Itar-Tass news agency, took a similar line, saying Moscow did not expect the resolution to "whip up" the situation.

"We don't expect any actions to follow, including from North Korea, that would lead to an escalation of tension."

North Korea has been subjected to sanctions for years for military moves condemned by regional powers. Analysts are not sure if new measures will have much impact on the impoverished state, whose economy has grown weaker since leader Kim Jong-il took over in 1994.

Some experts believe the resolution could draw sharp rebuke from the prickly North, which has threatened to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile unless the Security Council apologizes for punishing it for an April rocket launch widely seen as a disguised long-range missile test.