N. Korea threatens 'tough military counteraction' against S. Korea-US joint drill

North Korea on Saturday threatened "tough military counteraction" against Seoul and Washington ahead of their upcoming joint military exercises scheduled for later this month.

"Ulchi Freedom Guardian will entail tough military counteraction of the army of the DPRK to firmly defend the dignity of the nation and sovereignty of the country," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a statement. DPRK is the acronym for the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The North said that the two allies' "efforts" to call the drills "transparent and defensive," and "regular and open," cannot "conceal the aggressive and reactionary nature of the drills as typical saber-rattling for making a pre-emptive nuclear strike at the DPRK."

The statement comes as ties between the two Koreas remain frigid amid Pyongyang's heightened criticism of Seoul and their plan to hold a joint celebration of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule virtually fell through.

Seoul-Pyongyang ties have been further strained in recent years following the North's torpedoing of a South Korean warship and its shelling of a border island in 2010.

The two Koreas have not held high-level talks since February 2014. (Yonhap)