SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea again denounced U.N. sanctions against its communist regime Thursday, saying its future rocket and nuclear tests may directly target the United States.

   "We do not hide that a variety of satellites and long-range rockets which will be launched by the DPRK one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out by it in the upcoming all-out action, a new phase of the anti-U.S. struggle that has lasted century after century, will target against the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean people," the North's National Defense Commission said in an English-language dispatch carried by the communist nation's Korean Central News Agency.

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

   The statement came two days after the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted additional sanctions against Pyongyang for its December launch of a long-range rocket carrying a satellite. The communist nation had already been under various U.N. sanctions for past rocket launches and two nuclear tests. The North is banned from testing ballistic missile technology under the previous U.N. sanctions.

   On Wednesday, the North said it was giving up all efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and that there will be no more discussions aimed at ending its nuclear program.

   The North's defense commission, the most powerful decision-making group in the communist country, on Thursday said it defies all U.N. sanctions, calling them unlawful and illegitimate.

   "Along with the nationwide efforts to defend the sovereignty, the DPRK will continue launching peaceful satellites to outer space one after another," it said.

   "The UN Security Council resolution on expanding sanctions against the DPRK, which was adopted on the initiative of the U.S., represents the most dangerous phase of the hostile policy toward the DPRK," the statement said.

   bdk@yna.co.kr
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