North Korea has threatened to launch preemptive attacks on South Korea ahead of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), Seoul's annual joint military exercise with the United States set for this week.

The North’s Korean Central TV on Sunday reported on a statement issued by the General Staff Department of the North Korean People’s Army.

Calling the exercise a war rehearsal to attack North Korea, the statement criticized that the drills are designed by America’s puppets in the South and the U.S. hostile policy to the North.

The statement added that the “tailored deterrence strategy” of this year’s joint exercise is just a deception and the UFG is a dangerous nuclear war exercise to launch a preemptive nuclear attack on the North by surprise.

The North said it will carry out a merciless preemptive attack as the South and the U.S. have declared a war.