PYONGYANG, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday slammed a U.S.-South Korean joint military drill, and asked the international community to recognize its self-defensive actions, the official KCNA news agency reported.

"The United States is becoming all the more undisguised in its criminal move to disturb peace and ignite a nuclear war," an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.

The ceaseless and increasingly larger joint maneuvers on the Korean Peninsula are "grave military provocations against the DPRK" and unforgivable acts of "disturbing peace and security," it added.

As the DPRK had stated its efforts and willingness to defuse tensions on the peninsula at a ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Myanmar, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry said the DPRK's self-defensive measures were "wrecking stability" and sparking "serious concern," it said.

Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un guided test-fire of an ultra-precision tactical rocket one day ahead of the 69th anniversary of the nation's liberation on Friday. The DPRK has frequently launched rockets or other projectiles since late June.

Pyongyang also accused Washington of attempting to ignite a war while confusing right and wrong.

The statement said the U.S announcement of introducing a "tailored deterrence strategy" in this year's Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise was "another undisguised nuclear threat and blackmail."

The international community should recognize the validity of the DPRK's self-defensive measures, which were taken to protect the country and the nation, and restrain the "provocative nuclear war drills" between the United States and South Korea, the statement said.

It warned that the DPRK will continue to take "self-defensive counteractions on an annual and regular basis" and "take steps at a higher stage which no one can predict."

The annual UFG exercise, which is aimed at defending South Korea from possible security threats from the DPRK, kicked off on Monday.