A military helicopter flies over U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, April 18, during joint exercises with South Korea. Yonhap

North Korean propaganda organs slammed the annual combined military exercises between South Korea and the United States, Thursday, labeling them as preparation for war, while the Kim Jong-un regime has made no formal response yet.

Earlier this week, South Korea and the United States kicked off their combined springtime military training that does not include any troop maneuvers. It is to run through next Thursday.

"This is a reckless, dangerous play with fires of war and a clear exercise for the invasion of the North, driving the Korean Peninsula's political situation that is already unstable to an extreme," Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda outlet, said in a commentary posted on its website.

It added that inter-Korean relations and the political situation on the peninsula have been thrown into "the worst state." It took issue with the exercises as well as remarks by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and Defense Minister Suh Wook on the potential option of a "preemptive strike" against the North if inevitable for national security.

Another propaganda website Meari also lambasted the drills, arguing that their true objectives were perfecting plans for an invasion of the North.

"The confrontational madness of the South Korean military has reached an extreme," it said. "The provocative military action being carried out by the South Korean military and the United States could lead to a tragic situation that no one could predict." (Yonhap)