SCENARIOS - How North Korea could retaliate against U.N.

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is unlikely to respond militarily to planned U.N. sanctions over its nuclear test, but the possibility should not be completely dismissed, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

Here are some steps the reclusive state could take if the resolution, written by the United States and endorsed by the four other permanent members plus Japan and South Korea, is adopted:

ANGRY RHETORIC, THEN DIPLOMACY

- North Korea might fire off a diatribe if the resolution is adopted but not respond militarily using either its conventional or strategic weapons. When the Security Council passed a resolution in 2006 after the North's first nuclear test, its U.N. envoy called the move "gangster-like" and "coercive." Its foreign ministry called it a declaration of war.

- The North, however, set itself on course to return to the negotiating table two months later, ending a year-long deadlock in disarmament talks.

- Officials and experts say the North's recent provocative moves are linked to leader Kim Jong-il arranging for one of his sons to eventually take over from him. Fighting against perceived hostility from the international community has been a staple of the North's domestic propaganda, used to consolidate power around Kim.