North Korea has denounced South Korea and the United States for staging their annual joint military exercise, warning that the North will maintain the balance of power for preventing war by stockpiling the greatest deterrence. 

The North Korean foreign ministry's Institute for American Studies issued the criticism in a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. 

Denouncing the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise as “war drills for aggression,” the institute reportedly said that the more frequently the U.S. and its vassal countries commit collective military provocations, the stronger the deterrence of justice for neutralizing the threat will become.

Noting that United Nations Command member states will take part in the exercise, the North referred to the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise as the largest military drill in the Asia-Pacific region and an "aggressive multilateral show of force" involving NATO members.

The report also said it is a typical American tactic to pursue its own security at the expense of other countries’ security interests. 

South Korea and the U.S. kicked off their annual combined military exercise on Monday to enhance their joint defense posture against North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats.