North Korea slams South Korea-US war games

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North Korea claimed Sunday that joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States were a rehearsal for an attack against it and warned it would repel any aggression.

"The army and people of (North Korea) will never remain an onlooker to the U.S. military and the South Korean bellicose forces staging frantic anti-(North Korea) war moves," the North's official Korean Central News Agency quoted Gen. Kim Jong Gak as saying at a meeting in its capital.

"Should the U.S. imperialists and their following forces misjudge (North Korea's) will and act rashly," North Korea's people and army "will mercilessly wipe out the aggressors to the last man," Kim said.

The harsh North Korean rhetoric is not new, but came three days after South Korea and the U.S. ended annual computer-simulated military drills.

The drills involved 56,000 South Korean troops and 10,000 U.S. soldiers in South Korea and abroad, and were aimed at preparing the South Korean government to retake wartime command of its forces from Washington in 2012.

Despite repeated denials from Seoul and Washington, North Korea has denounced the drills as a preparation for an attack on the communist country.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry also recently joined the criticism, saying the North would bolster its "war deterrent" — a euphemism for its nuclear programs.

North Korea and the U.S. are in the midst of a dispute over how to verify the North's declared nuclear programs under an aid-for-disarmament deal.

North Korea has accused the U.S. of delaying its removal from a U.S. terror blacklist. The U.S. has said it will drop North Korea from the list only after it agrees to a full nuclear verification plan.

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