North Korea has accused the United States of threatening war by carrying out a test of its missile defense system and conducting joint military exercises with the South.The North's semi-official Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland also attacked South Korea for taking part in the annual war games and said it would only drive Pyongyang to build up its self-defence capability. "The US staged not only a large-scale north-targeted naval and air combined maneuver in the waters around the Korean Peninsula with troops of its allies involved but carried out a missile test-fire to strike the DPRK and intercept its missiles," the committee said in a statement carried by state media.
It called the "Ulchi Focus Lens" military drills, which ended on Friday, "little short of a declaration of war against the DPRK (North Korea)", saying the exercises had been "of a more provocative nature" than previous war games.