N Korea slams S Korea, US and Japan military exercise

North Korea criticised a joint military exercise by South Korea, Japan and the United States held this month, saying such drills show the relationship among three countries has developed into "the Asian version of NATO", state media reports.

On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale joint military drills called Freedom Edge involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defences against missiles, submarines and air attacks.

The exercise was devised at the three-way summit at Camp David last year to strengthen military co-operation amid tensions on the Korean peninsula stemming from North Korea's weapons testing.

Pyongyang will not ignore the strengthening of a military bloc led by the US and its allies and will protect regional peace with an aggressive and overwhelming response, North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement, according to KCNA news agency.

The ministry also said Washington was continuing its effort to link up South Korea and Japan to NATO, adding South Korea's attempts to supply weapons to Ukraine is one example of that effort.

South Korea said it would review the possibility of supplying arms directly to Ukraine, in protest against a recent mutual defence pact signed between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

South Korea and the United States have accused the North of supplying weapons to Russia that are being used in the Ukraine war. Both Russia and North Korea deny any such transactions.

Separately, Kim is presiding over a key meeting of the ruling party to review the performance of the party in the first half of the year.

In a separate report on Sunday morning, KCNA news agency said Kim made a speech on the focus of the second half of the year during the party's gathering and addressed "deviations" hampering stable economic development.

KCNA did not provide further details about his speech.

An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry that handles inter-Korean affairs said there were no further comments to give on KCNA's report on "important news."