US-South Korea drill is 'declaration of war': North Korea

SEOUL: North Korea on Thursday slammed a joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea as a declaration of "all-out war".

The 10-day exercise is an "unpardonable heinous provocation" against the communist state, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said.

"This is a declaration of an all-out war against the DPRK (North Korea)," the state body said in an English-language statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

The exercise, which began on Tuesday, involves more than 530,000 troops, including some 3,000 military personnel from the US and other bases around the Pacific region.

The two allies have described the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) drill as defensive and routine, but the CPRK said it was a rehearsal for an attack against the North's leadership, nuclear and missile bases.

The UFG has stripped the United States and South Korea of their "mask of peace and dialogue," the CPRK said, adding that the two countries had reacted to Pyongyang's "patient efforts for peace" with "provocative manoeuvres for a war of aggression".

The comments come a day after the isolated communist state responded to the start of the exercise by vowing to bolster its nuclear deterrent.

The North habitually labels such joint drills as rehearsals for invasion and launches its own counter-exercises.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011