ISTANBUL

North Korea on Tuesday slammed joint military exercises launched by South Korea and the US, calling them “reckless” and capable of triggering a nuclear disaster.

Seoul and Washington's "provocative large-scale joint military drills" will "boost unpredictability in the situation in the area of the armistice state" on the Korean Peninsula, the Pyongyang-based state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, citing a Defense Ministry statement.

Drawing a comparison between Pyongyang's military exercises and those of the US and South Korea, the ministry said they make “a clear contrast with the reality of the DPRK (an acronym for the official name of North Korea) mobilizing large-scale military forces into economic construction for the promotion of the people's well-being.”

The military exercises "more clearly show who is the arch-criminal threatening mankind with nukes" is, the ministry said, referring to the US-South Korea drills that began on Monday.

“The large-scale war drills staged by the world's biggest nuclear weapons state and more than 10 satellite states against a state in the Korean peninsula where a nuclear war may be ignited even with a spark, can never be called ‘defensive’,” the statement said.

Vowing to continuously monitor the “adventurist acts of the enemies,” the ministry said: “The US and the ROK (acronym of the official name of South Korea) will be made to pay a dear price for their false choice while realizing that it causes their security uneasiness at a serious level every moment.”

South Korea and the US launched one of their major military exercises on Monday, the first since the 2018 inter-Korean military accord was scrapped by divided Koreas last November.

The annual 11-day military exercise, dubbed as Freedom Shield, is to “reinforce deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats amid concern Pyongyang could use the maneuvers as a pretext for provocations.

The two sides plan to hold 48 military exercises which is more than double held last year.

Pyongyang last November scrapped altogether the 2018-signed military pact with Seoul which was aimed at reducing border tensions.

North’s move came after the South had partially ended the pact.