North Korea warns U.S. and South Korea will 'pay dearly' for joint military exercise

SEOUL, March 7 (UPI) -- North Korea condemned an upcoming U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise Friday, saying that "counteraction is inevitable" and warning that the allies would "pay dearly."

The threat came one day after the United States and South Korea announced that their annual springtime Freedom Shield exercise would run from Monday through March 20, involving computer-simulated drills and on-field training.

Freedom Shield will reflect "realistic threats, lessons learned from recent armed conflicts and evolving challenges, including the DPRK's military strategy, tactics and capabilities, as well as its growing partnership with Russia," U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Ryan Donald said at a press briefing.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

While Washington and Seoul say their joint military drills are defensive in nature, Pyongyang regularly condemns them as rehearsals for an invasion.

Friday's unsigned commentary by state-run Korean Central News Agency said the upcoming exercise would be held "under the simulated conditions of an all-out war against the DPRK."

"No matter how frequently the enemy states describe the said large-scale war rehearsal targeting a sovereign state as 'annual' and 'defensive' one, they can never cover up its habitual, offensive and confrontational nature," the KCNA commentary said.

The statement also highlighted the recent visit of the nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to the southeastern port of Busan and a large-scale live-fire drill held Thursday by U.S. and South Korean forces near the DMZ.

There was no mention of the accidental bombing of a residential area in the city of Pocheon by two South Korean KF-16 fighter jets during the drill, however.

South Korea's Ministry of Defense on Friday announced that the injury toll from the accident had risen to 29, including 15 civilians and 14 soldiers. The ministry has suspended all live-fire drills until the exact cause of the accident is determined but said that Freedom Shield will continue as planned.

Freedom Shield will "soon bring a storm of aggravated situation to the Korean Peninsula," the KCNA commentary said.

"Counteraction is inevitable," the statement said. "We have already made it clear that if the U.S. continues to renew its record of military muscle-flexing, we will have no option but to renew our record of displaying strategic deterrent."

"The enemy states will have to pay dearly for their stupid and reckless war drills," it added.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which oversees relations between the two Koreas, on Friday dismissed the North's claims that the joint drills were the cause of rising tensions on the Peninsula.

"Whenever there is a joint South Korea-U.S. military exercise, North Korea shifts responsibility for heightened tensions and repeats unreasonable claims that threaten us instead," ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam said at a press briefing. "Our training is a defensive exercise to protect freedom, as the name Freedom Shield suggests."