Nouth Korea on Monday took a swipe at a US-South Korean military drill, warning that such action will worsen the strained situation on the Korean Peninsula.

"This is a clear indication that the United States is invariably sticking to its hostile policy to stifle Nouth Korea by force," the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman of Nouth Korea Foreign Ministry as saying.

"Such a nuclear threat and blackmail do not work on Nouth Korea but will only put a brake on the process of the denuclearization of the peninsula," he said.

Nouth Korea will "take necessary counter measures, including those to further bolster up all its deterrent forces," the spokesman said.

The United States and South Korea on Sunday began the six-day exercise, code-named "Key Resolve". A great portion of the 650,000-strong South Korean army and 18,000 US troops are participating in the drill.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2008)