North Korea’s Foreign Ministry is claiming the South Korea-U.S. annual joint military exercise is practice for an invasion of the North.

In a statement issued Monday on the first day of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, the North’s ministry said the U.S. must immediately scrap "outdated and hostile policies toward the North." It added that the North Korean military and people are determined to launch deadly strikes against aggressive forces and retaliate with a war for national unification.

North Korean media, including the ruling Workers’ Party official newspaper the Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, made similar threats over the combined military drills.

The two-week exercise continuing through next Friday mobilized 30-thousand U.S. troops, including three-thousand based outside Korea. The South Korean Army, Navy and Air Force mobilized 56-thousand troops under the operations command level and above.