PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) warned Monday that its military is "fully ready to mount a preemptive retaliatory strike" as?the Republic of Korea (ROK)?and the Untied States are conducting joint military exercises.

"If they show the slightest sign of aggression on the inviolable land, seas and air where the sovereignty of the DPRK is exercised, it would turn the stronghold of provocation into a heap of ashes through Korean-style preemptive nuclear strike," said a statement issued by a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

The statement called the military drill "a clear manifestation of a vicious plot" to inflict misery of colonial rule over the DPRK people.

On Sunday, a spokesman for the DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country warned that the DPRK will decisively foil all hostile acts and threat of aggression and provocation with the Korean-style nuclear deterrence.

The Ulchi Freedom Guardian war games, which kicked off Monday, will run till early September.

Each year, the ROK and the US conduct a number of joint military drills that they claim to be of defensive nature. But Pyongyang says the annual war games are designed for invasion.