North Korea has lashed out at South Korea for its annual defense exercise.

Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland on Wednesday criticized Seoul for its military's current Hoguk exercise, calling it a nuclear war practice. 

The committee said that the South is now holding the annual drills in the largest scale after unilaterally cancelling the planned second round of high-level inter-Korean talks. The North also said it will never accept the South's maneuvers for a war rehearsal.

The committee also claimed the South fired shots at North Korean soldiers conducting routine patrols near the Military Demarcation Line and on the Yellow Sea in recent days. 

The 12-day Hoguk defense exercises kicked off on Monday involving some 330-thousand troops from the Army, Navy and Air Force and are the largest yet in size. Some 23-thousand pieces of equipment and weapons have also been mobilized for the drills.