North Korea has cancelled this year’s Arirang Festival due to serious damage from recent torrential rains and to protest a planned South Korea-U.S. joint military drill.

The North’s committee on implementing the inter-Korean June 15 agreement confirmed on Sunday the cancellation of the annual event in a fax note sent to its South Korean counterpart.

The North said it decided to call off the grand-scale festival due to unprecedented heavy rains in the country, stating that many of the would-be participants in the event are currently caught up in relief efforts.

The communist state also cited the planned joint military drill, 'Ulchi-Focus Lens,' set for late next month as another reason for the event's cancellation.

The fax note, however, failed to mention whether a celebration marking Liberation Day on August 15th will take place as scheduled.

The communist state was planning on hosting the Arirang Festival from August 14th until mid-October, with some 100-thousand people mobilized for the mass gymnastics show.

The event is held every year to celebrate the birthday of the late Communist leader Kim Il-Sung, that actually falls on April 15.

The impoverished country was pounded by a typhoon on July 10th, followed by heavy rain. The North's official media said hundreds of people were dead or missing.