The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) warned that UN sanctions on the country's rocket launch may lead to a collapse of the six-party nuclear talks on nuclear disarmament, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday.

The DPRK said that as such punitive measures violate a multilateral agreement on mutual respect, Pyongyang may have to step out of the talks.

"If such a hostile activity is carried out under the name of the U.N. Security Council, it should be considered as a breach of the Sept. 19 joint statement by the U.N. Security Council itself, "the DPRK's Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying in a statement, referring to a 2005 accord reached at the six-party talks.

"If the Sept. 19 joint statement is breached, the six-party talks are no longer in need of existence," the ministry added, pointing at the other six-party members as main culprits of the collapse.

Launched in 2003, the six-party talks involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the ROK, Japan and Russia.

South Korea, the United States and Japan have been blaming the DPRK on its Kwangmyung-2 satellite launch plan, scheduled on April4-8, citing the 2006 Security Council resolution that prohibits Pyongyang from engaging in any missile-related activities.

The DPRK government refuted such claims in Tuesday's statement, saying that it was nonsense that technologies used for a satellite and a missile are indistinguishable and that no authority may interfere with their independent right of peaceful space development and space use.　

Source: Xinhua