South Korean police take positions outside a hall during an anti-terror drill as part of the joint US-South Korean military exercise called 'Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG)' in Seoul on August 18, 2010.
The United States and South Korea are carrying out a joint military exercise within the East Asian country's territories despite opposition from neighboring North Korea.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) annual military drill, launched on Tuesday, is reportedly aimed at strengthening the defense capabilities of the alliance against any possible attack by North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
The Combined Forces Command (CFC) has said in a statement that the UFG will try to enhance the US-South Korea's joint ability "by exercising senior leaders' decision-making capabilities and by training commanders and staffs from both nations in planning, command and control operations, intelligence, logistics, and personnel procedures."
"It is challenging and realistic training focused on preparing, preventing and prevailing against the full range of current and future external threats to the Republic of Korea and the region," claimed the commander of CFC, General James D. Thurman.
The military exercise provoked severe criticism from the North, as the state had earlier appealed for cancellation of the drill.
Pyongyang cited the move as "extremely provocative," calling it a preparation for an "all-out war" against the North and the "largest-ever nuclear war exercise".
"The Korean peninsula is faced with the worst crisis ever. An all-out war can be triggered by any accidents," North Korean media reported on Tuesday.
"The US war-mongers are planning to carry out a realistic war drill to remove our nuclear facilities with a mobile unit led by the US 20th Support Command which was sent to Iraq to find and disable weapons of mass destruction," they added.
The North had previously called on the two states to cancel the drill, describing the move as a blow to new efforts to restart six-nations talks aimed at dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Pyongyang usually views such exercises as a rehearsal for invasion, and launches its own counter-maneuvers.
Tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula since November 2010, when an exchange of artillery fire left four South Koreans dead on a border island.
The North accuses US President Barack Obama of plotting with regional allies to topple the country's government, insisting that its nuclear program is a deterrent to US forces in the region.
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