By Phil Stewart
BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea is becoming a direct threat to the United States and could develop an inter-continental ballistic missile within five years, U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said on Tuesday.
Gates told reporters during a visit to Beijing that he did not believe North Korea would amass large numbers of the missiles, saying it would be a limited capability.
"I think that North Korea will have developed an inter-continental ballistic missile within that time -- not that they will have huge numbers or anything like that," Gates told reporters.
"But they will have, I believe they will have a very limited capability."
North Korea has more than 800 ballistic missiles and more than 1,000 missiles of various ranges. It has sold missiles and technology overseas, with Iran a top buyer.
Pyongyang's arsenal includes intermediate-range missiles that can hit targets at up to 3,000 km (1,860 miles) away, the Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean official as saying last year. Those missiles could hit all of Japan and put U.S. military bases in Guam at risk.
Gates said it was "self-evident" that U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao would discuss North Korea while Hu is in the United States next week.
Obama is expected to press Hu to exert more pressure on North Korea, which has alarmed the region by shelling a South Korean island and revealing advances in its nuclear programme.
China is North Korea's only major diplomatic and economic backer.
U.S. officials, including Gates, believe China is best positioned to avert a conflict on the Korean peninsula by using its influence over North Korea.
China voiced misgivings about U.S. and South Korean joint military drills mounted in response to North Korea's shelling of the South Korean island in November and the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.
Gates travels to South Korea and Japan after China, two other countries which are involved in stalled talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions.
(Writing by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Dean Yates)