North Korea on Monday denounced South Korea and the United States for staging joint military drills, calling it a "futile" provocative act that will only hasten the South's destruction.

Citing joint military exercises that Seoul and Washington have carried out since late October, the Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean main newspaper, reported that South Korea is recklessly running amok to stage war on the Korean Peninsula.

"Having the US on its back, the puppet group is pursuing an ambition for a northern invasion and walking on the path to confrontation and war. Its rash act is foolish and a futile bravado that hastens its ruin," the paper said.

North Korea has long denounced joint military drills between Seoul and Washington as rehearsals for invasion. The allies have said the exercises are defensive in nature.

Experts said North Korea is building excuses for provocative acts following its Nov. 21 launch of a military spy satellite.

Pyongyang has vowed to restore all military measures halted under a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction accord in protest of Seoul's partial suspension of the deal over the North's satellite launch. (Yonhap)