Seoul says it will hold its annual joint military exercise with the United States this week amid Pyongyang?s denunciation that the drill is a rehearsal for an invasion of the communist country.

A Defense Ministry official announced Sunday that troops from the two countries will take part in the Ulchi Focus Lens exercise from Monday to next Friday in a bid to strengthen their war deterrence against North Korea.

According to the official, the drill comprises mostly computer-simulated war games and will involve a number of U.S. military units in South Korea, a small number of U.S. forces outside of the country, as well as South Korean troops.

Earlier on Friday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang denounced the joint drill, saying that hostile U.S. policy toward the North is destroying the foundation for the six-way talks aimed at peacefully resolving Pyongyang's nuclear arms standoff.

The joint exercise was first held in 1976. Pyongyang regularly condemns the annual drill as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.