Experts from the 15-member council Wednesday afternoon pored over the draft, which was prepared by Japan and the United States with support from Britain, and were due to resume their deliberations Thursday at 11 am (1500 GMT).

A council diplomat said no agreement was reached and the experts would now report back to their capitals for detailed instructions on how to proceed.

The draft said UN members states should prevent the transfer of financial resources, items, goods and technology that could contribute to Pyongyang's missile "and other WMD" programs.

But its reference to punitive measures looked likely to be removed from the final text, amid stiff Chinese and Russian opposition to any form of sanctions against Pyongyang.

The draft condemns North Korea's test launch of seven missiles -- including a long-range Taepodong-2 capable of reaching US soil -- and called on the Stalinist state to immediately cease all missile testing, deployment and proliferation.

It also urged North Korea to immediately resume six-party talks involving China, Japan, Russia and South Korea and to work toward speedy implementation of its September 19, 2005 pledge to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for offers of aid and security.

The draft cites Chapter Seven of the UN charter which is invoked in cases of threats to international peace and security and can authorize sanctions or even military action as a last resort.

During closed-door morning consultations, Japan pushed for a swift and strongly-worded resolution condemning the missile tests.

"We hope that the response of the council will be swift, strong, and resolute," Japan's UN ambassador Kenzo Oshima Oshima said after the morning consultations.

Tokyo has slammed the North Korean launches and threatened "stern measures," including possible economic sanctions.

While 13 council members spoke in favour of a resolution, Russia and China said they would prefer a non-binding council presidential statement.

Warning against "whipping up emotions too much," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the council should keep its focus on the resumption of six-party talks.

"I think we should be clear-headed," said Churkin, who all but ruled out any possibility of a resolution that contained punitive measures against Pyongyang.

"In the discussion today, I didn't hear the word sanctions and I frankly do not expect that anybody will be proposing any sanctions," he said.

Earlier, Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose country is a close ally of Pyongyang, said Beijing was concerned about the North Korean launches but stressed that any response should be "constructive to maintaining peace in that part of the world."

Beijing has refrained from condemning the missile tests, urging all sides to "remain calm and exercise restraint," with analysts saying China will not endorse a tough response.

US Ambassador John Bolton voiced strong support for a resolution and stressed that no council member had sought to defend Pyongyang's test-firing.

"I think that the tenor of that discussion shows how little support there is in the international community as a whole for these North Korean missile launches," he said.

Bolton also expressed hope that the council would reach agreement on the draft resolution as quickly as possible.

In Washington, meanwhile, Washington's envoy to talks on the crisis urged China to take a strong line with North Korea.

"We need China to be very, very firm with their neighbors and frankly with their long-term allies the North Koreans, on what is acceptable behavior and what is not acceptable behavior," Christopher Hill, a top State Department official, told CNN International.

The White House said Hill would leave for Asia later in the day to consult US partners on Pyongyang's missile launches.

Pyongyang abandoned the six-party talks in November 2005 after Washington imposed financial sanctions for alleged counterfeiting and money laundering activities.

In Seoul, analysts said North Korea's first ballistic missile test since 1998 was aimed at forcing Washington to hold direct negotiations.

But the United States again ruled out direct talks and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said North Korea may have "miscalculated" if it thought its "brinksmanship" would divide the international community.

The European Union also condemned the launches, calling them "provocative" and saying they added to strain on regional stability.

South Korea, for its part, said it may halt shipments of rice and other humanitarian aid to North Korea.

Japan denounced the launches as a "grave problem," put its troops and police on a higher state of alert and unleashed a package of sanctions including a ban on North Korean diplomats entering the country.

In Moscow, a Kremlin aide said the North Korean tests would come under scrutiny at a G8 summit of the world's leading industrial nations in Saint Petersburg this month.

North Korean missiles to figure in G8 summit, say Russian hosts
North Korea's missile tests will come under scrutiny at a G8 summit of the world's leading industrial nations in Saint Petersburg this month, a Kremlin aide said Wednesday.

"Usually when leaders meet at a summit they discuss the most urgent questions of the moment," said Igor Shuvalov, in charge of preparations for the gathering which Russia is hosting.

"The Iranian problem and the problems of North Korea will certainly be dealt with," he said on the Rossiya television channel.

"Usually the (G8) leaders discuss nuclear non-proliferation," he said. "North Korea's capacities are currently being considerably reinforced through possession of ballistic missiles, and this subject will of course figure as part of non-proliferation."

The Saint Petersburg G8 summit will be held during July 15-17.

In inital reactions, the US and North Korea's Asian neighbours led international outrage over the tests, launching sanctions, raising military alerts and urging it to return to nuclear disarmament talks.

Russia condemned the North Korean missile tests, saying they undermined international efforts to ease nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the matter by telephone, the foreign ministry in Moscow said.

"The Russian side expressed its concern about such actions running counter to all the efforts of the international community," it said.

Russia has been involved in six-nation talks together with North and South Korea, the United States, China and Japan, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programs.

The missile launch crisis comes during an international standoff over the communist state's nuclear program. The North has boycotted the six-party disarmament talks since November after Washington imposed financial sanctions.

On relations with Iran, Russia has called for a diplomatic solution to the international dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, which Iran says is peaceful but the United States suspects is a front for developing nuclear weapons.

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