SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- North Korea said that its planned rocket launch has nothing to do with a recent nuclear deal with the United States, in an apparent diplomatic offensive to fend off growing international pressure over its latest provocation.
The North's "launch of satellite has nothing to do with" its agreement with the U.S., the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English-language dispatch late Monday night.
Last Friday, North Korea announced it will launch a rocket in mid-April to put Kwangmyongsong-3, an earth observation satellite, into orbit as part of its peaceful space program.
"The launch of the working satellite is an issue fundamentally different from that of a long-range missile," the commentary said, adding that the planned launch poses no problem.
The North often uses its state media to make public its stance on relations with the outside world. The commentary came amid international concern that the planned launch will heighten tension on the Korean Peninsula and unravel the nuclear accord between Pyongyang and Washington.
The development came just weeks after the communist country agreed to temporarily put a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests and freeze its uranium-enrichment facilities in exchange for 240,000 tons of food aid from the United States.
South Korea condemned North Korea's planned launch as a "grave provocation" aimed at developing a long-range ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
South Korea also called on North Korea to "immediately stop such a provocative act and abide by its international obligations."
The North is banned from all activities related to its ballistic missile program or nuclear activity under U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Experts have said there are technological similarities between a rocket launch and a long-range missile test and that the technology used to launch a satellite could be diverted for military purposes.
The U.S. has also said a North Korean launch would be "highly provocative" and a deal-breaker, noting a launch would make the implementation of a food aid agreement "quite difficult."
The North claimed, however, the satellite launch will raise its international prestige and mark a historic occasion of proving its "space science and technology has made another big stride," the KCNA said in a separate dispatch late Monday.
The launch is timed for the centennial of the birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, and alongside South Korea's parliamentary elections slated for April 11.
North Korea's top nuclear envoy, Ri Yong-ho, said his country has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to return to the North's nuclear complex as part of its deal with the U.S., according to foreign media.
IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said it received the North's invitation on Friday, Associated Press reported from Vienna.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday the U.S. had not heard of a formal invitation from North Korea.
"There's benefit for any access that the IAEA can get, but it doesn't change the fact that we would consider a satellite launch a violation, not only of their UN obligations, but of the commitments that they made to us on Leap Day," she said.
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