North Korea vowed Sunday to continue to push strongly forward with its nuclear and rocket programs, rejecting an appeal from the five permanent U.N. Security Council members that Pyongyang refrain from any acts escalating tensions.

The council members -- the United States, Britain, China, Russia and France -- issued the joint statement during a nuclear meeting in Vienna last week, urging Pyongyang to "refrain from further actions which may cause grave security concerns in the region, including any nuclear tests."

They also expressed "serious concern" over the North's rocket launch last month.

On Sunday, the North's Foreign Ministry rejected the statement as "a grave illegal action of violating the sovereignty of the DPRK and its right to use space and nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, pursuant to the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK."

DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The ministry also said that the five council members have conducted more nuclear tests and stockpiled more nukes than other countries in the world.

"The DPRK, depending on its nuclear deterrence for self-defense, will firmly protect its sovereignty and dynamically push forward the development of space for peaceful purposes and the industry of nuclear energy and proudly build a thriving nation where its people will fully enjoy prosperity under socialism," it said.

North Korea has long used the term, "nuclear deterrent," to refer to its nuclear arsenal.

Pyongyang claims its long-range rocket launch was an attempt to put a satellite into orbit, but the liftoff, though a failure, was widely condemned as an attempt to test its ballistic missile technology.

The U.N. Security Council adopted a presidential statement condemning the launch last month.

After the North's failed rocket launch on April 13, concerns have grown that the communist regime could stage additional provocations. Experts have talked of the possibility of a nuclear test, which will be the North's third, as well as more missile tests and border clashes.

In Seoul, Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Saenuri Party, who has declared his presidential bid, said that he believes there are high chances of fresh armed provocations by North Korea, including a nuclear test, and urged the government to take the situation more seriously.

"North Korea specifically signaled new types of provocations through mass rallies," Chung told a news conference. The North is expected "to carry out its third nuclear test at any time." (Yonhap)