PYONGYANG - Pyongyang has condemned the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint war game between the United States and the Republic of Korea as a move "disturbing the regional security environment."

The large-scale war drill against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) can never be "defensive" as it is being staged by the world's biggest nuclear weapons state and its "satellite states" on the Korean Peninsula, Kim Yong-bok, first vice-chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA), said in a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday.

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"The current joint military drill is the one for an actual war, which makes its provocative nature more clear, as it renewed the records of all the past rehearsals for an anti-DPRK war in its nature, scale and mode," said the statement issued on Monday.

Noting that the drill has changed its shape into a multinational one, with the number and period of field maneuvering hitting a record high, the statement said it "has turned into the biggest, the longest and the worst war drill" in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in the world.

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The DPRK is watching everything carefully and ready to cope with any situation, it said.

The latest statement came after similar denouncements issued earlier this month by No Kwang-chol, national defense minister of the DPRK, and a KPA General Staff spokesperson.