North Korea yesterday lashed out at the US and South Korea, who it said were "fanning the climate of confrontation and war" by planning joint military exercises.

"Dialogue and war games are never compatible with each other," the leading official newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a news analysis.

The remarks came after South Korea announced on Wednesday that a preliminary military exercise will be held this week before joint military exercises between South Korea and the US.

"These joint military exercises…are a never-to-be-condoned challenge and a grave military provocation" against North Korea, said the newspaper.

"The reckless war exercises...will entail only negative consequences, stonewalling the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, pushing the inter-Korean relations back to a crisis again and fanning the climate of confrontation and war," it said.

The US military in South Korea said that about 29,000 US troops will take part in the exercises, including 6,000 reinforcements stationed outside the peninsula.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)