The United States said Monday it is aware of North Korea's pledge to launch a new round of long-range rockets, possibly around next month's 70th anniversary of the founding of its Workers' Party, but declined further comment.

"We have seen the statement. We will not speculate on the timing of the statement, or any possible provocative actions by the DPRK (North Korea)," State Department spokesperson Anna Richey-Allen said in comments sent to Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration said the country's rocket and satellite scientists are working very hard to mark the party anniversary, which falls on Oct. 10, with greater scientific achievements.

"The world will clearly see a series of satellites of (North) Korea soaring into the sky at the times and locations determined by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea," the KCNA reported in an English statement, without elaborating.

The North also claimed it has the right to launch rockets for peaceful purposes.

But the communist nation has long been accused of using long-range rocket launches as a pretext for test-firing intercontinental ballistic missiles that are feared to be capable of reaching as far as the U.S. Experts say long-range rockets and ICBMs are basically the same with differences only in payloads.

U.N. Security Council resolutions also ban Pyongyang from any ballistic missile activity. (Yonhap)