North Korea has threatened that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to the brink of war, saying that the days are gone when verbal warnings are served.

In a statement Friday, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea condemned a planned joint naval drill between South Korea and the U.S and Seoul's plan to revise its rules of engagement. It said that the North is ready to fight war with war.

Pyongyang also said that its forces "precisely targeted and struck" South Korean artillery units, which were conducting a maritime shooting drill earlier in the week near the Yellow Sea inter-Korean border. It is seen as an admission that the attack on the South was deliberate.

It was the first time the North admitted it had targeted South Korean artillery units since the attack.
The Tuesday attack followed North Korean claims that the South Korean military had violated the maritime border during a training exercise --- a claim that the South denies.

North Korea refuses to recognize the inter-Korean maritime border as it was drawn by U.S.-led U.N. forces following the end of Korean War hostilities in 1953.