North Korea warned yesterday that it will respond with "powerful nuclear deterrence" to joint US and South Korean military exercises poised to begin this weekend, saying the drills amount to a provocation that cannot be ignored.


North Korea routinely threatens war when South Korea and the US hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an attack on the North.


The latest threat comes amid increased tensions on the peninsula over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang.