SEOUL: North Korea on Thursday accused the US and South Korea of escalating tensions to the brink of nuclear war through their joint military drills, vowing to respond with "offensive action," state media KCNA reported. KCNA released a commentary by Choe Ju Hyon, whom it called an international security analyst, criticising the exercises as "a trigger for driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the point of explosion."
"The reckless military confrontational hysteria of the US and its followers against the DPRK is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to an irreversible catastrophe ... to the brink of a nuclear war," the article said.
It was using the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"Now the international community unanimously hopes that the dark clouds of a nuclear war hanging over the Korean peninsula will be removed as early as possible," it added.
US and South Korean forces have been conducting a series of annual springtime exercises since March, including air and sea drills involving a US aircraft carrier and B-1B and B-52 bombers, and their first large-scale amphibious landing drills in five years.