SEOUL: North Korea on Tuesday rejected the United Nations' condemnation of its rocket launch and vowed to continue to try to put a satellite into orbit.
"We resolutely and totally reject the unreasonable behaviour of the UN Security Council to violate the DPRK's (North Korea's) legitimate right to launch satellites," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state media.
The statement came after the Security Council ordered tightened sanctions on North Korea over its failed rocket launch Friday and warned of new action if the isolated state stages a nuclear test.
The 15-member council including the North's closest ally China and nuclear-armed Pakistan "strongly condemned" the launch in a statement that highlighted "grave security concerns" in Asia.
Led by its new young ruler Kim Jong-Un, the North claimed it launched a satellite-carrying rocket but the United States and its allies said it was a disguised long-range ballistic missile test banned under UN resolutions.
"We will expand and strengthen space development institutions and continue launching a variety of working satellites needed for economic development of the country," the foreign ministry said.
"Nothing can stand in the way of (North Korea)'s space development for peaceful purposes."
It also accused Washington of breaching a deal made in February through the "hostile act of encroaching upon (North Korea's) legitimate right to launch satellites".
Under the deal, which Washington already confirmed will not go forward, the US had promised 240,000 tonnes of food aid for North Korea. In exchange, Washington had extracted promises that Pyongyang would suspend enrichment of uranium and cancel nuclear and missile tests.
"As the US violated the February 29 (North Korea)-US agreement through its undisguised hostile acts, we will no longer be bound to it (the deal). We have thus become able to take necessary retaliatory measures, free from the agreement," it said, without specifying exactly what it meant.
"The US will be held wholly accountable for all the ensuing consequences. Peace is very dear for us but the dignity of the nation and the sovereignty of the country are dearer for us."
On Monday the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan, said North Korea would push for the launch of a new and bigger rocket as part of a five-year space programme despite the failed launch.
North Korea has been developing missiles for decades both for what it terms self-defence and as a lucrative export commodity.
The UN condemnation came as Pyongyang reportedly said it would not allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to examine its nuclear programme a key part of the February deal.
At the meeting in New York on Monday the Security Council ordered new "entities and items" to be added within two weeks to the sanctions committee list created after North Korea staged nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
It also ordered the sanctions committee to revise the individuals and North Korean firms subject to asset freezes under the international measures.
The council said the launch of the rocket, which disintegrated over the Yellow Sea shortly after blast off, was a "serious violation" of UN resolutions 1718 and 1874. The Security Council "strongly condemned" the act.
It demanded that North Korea hold back from new launches "using ballistic missile technology" and suspend "all activities related to its ballistic missile programme" and keep to its promised "moratorium on missile launches".
"The Security Council expresses its determination to take action accordingly in the event of a further DPRK (North Korean) launch or nuclear test," said the statement.
Japanese and South Korean analysts and officials say satellite imagery showing preparations at the North Korean town of Punggye-ri where nuclear blasts were staged in 2006 and 2009 suggest a test could be imminent.
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