PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday denounced ongoing US-ROK military drills as an attempt to ignite a war, the official KCNA news agency reported.

The agency quoted a statement from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea as saying the involvement of military personnel who participated in the Korean War exposed Washington and Seoul's "scenario to ignite the second Korean War."

The statement said the 11-day Ulji Freedom Guardian war games, which started Tuesday, posed "a grave challenge" to all the peace-loving people on the Korean Peninsula and represented "an unpardonable heinous provocation" against the DPRK.

The joint drills, the statement said, were "a declaration of an all-out war against the DPRK" and proved the United States and?ROK did not have the "slightest will for dialogue and the improvement of relations but are only pursuing aims to escalate confrontation and ignite a war."

The statement warned that, should the United States and South Korea ignite a war of aggression, the DPRK would "wipe out the aggressors on this land to the last one and realize the cherished desire for national reunification."