N. Korea bristles at planned S. Korea-U.S. live-fire drills

SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Friday condemned South Korea and the United States for planning to kick off their major joint live-fire drills next week, describing the drills as a "war exercise" against Pyongyang.

South Korea and the U.S. are set to stage the drills from May 25 to June 15 as they mark the 70th anniversary of their alliance. The drills are expected to involve advanced weapons systems, including F-35A stealth fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, K2 tanks and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers.

The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that the drills are a "serial and extension of the anti-DPRK war exercises." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

The KCNA said such drills against a "nuclear power" are "sheer bullshit."

Pyongyang also issued a warning against South Korea and the U.S., noting the "dangerous war exercises" will take place "in an area only a few kilometers away from our front."

South Korea and the U.S. "are bound to face corresponding responses for their madcap nuclear war racket," the KCNA said in an English-language dispatch.

It stressed that it is a "legitimate right" to "equip itself with more powerful self-defensive means in order to cope with the prevailing grave situation and prospective threats" in what appeared to be an apparent justification of its nuclear and missile developments.