North Korea’s top military official says the North’s military will not stand by and watch South Korea and the United States hold joint military drills.

Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, Ri Yong-ho, made the statement on Friday during a ceremony in Pyongyang marking the 18th anniversary of the election of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as chairman of the National Defense Commission.

Ri claimed that the South and the U.S. have turned their back on inter-Korean dialogue and improving South-North relations and instead are explicitly revealing their ambitions to invade the North through conducting military drills aimed at provoking a nuclear war.

Other top officials who attended Friday’s ceremony included Premier Choe Yong-rim as well as Kim Ki-nam, Choe Ryong-hae and Kim Yang-gon who are secretaries of the Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers' Party.