SOUTH Korea and the United States began their biggest joint military exercises in years today as North Korea said that it had tested submarine-launched cruise missiles.

The North views the latest war games by US and South Korean forces as a rehearsal for a possible invasion.

The provocative military drills, which are set to run for 11 days, led North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to order his troops last week to be ready to repel its rivals’ “frantic war preparation moves.”

The exercises include a computer simulation game called Freedom Shield 23 and several combined field training exercises, collectively known as Warrior Shield FTX.

According to the US and South Korean militaries, the computer simulation is designed to strengthen their defence and response capabilities.

A recent US military statement said that the field exercises were intended to further enhance the two militaries’ “co-operation through air, land, sea, space, cyber and special operations and improve upon tactics, techniques and procedures.”

In North Korea, state media reported that the launch of two cruise missiles from a submarine off the country’s east coast showed its resolve to respond with “overwhelming powerful” force to the intensifying military manoeuvres of the “the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces.”

Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency described the missiles as “strategic” weapons and said that the launches verified the operational posture of the country’s “nuclear war deterrence.”

The Foreign Ministry also accused Washington and other Western governments of plotting to call a United Nations security council meeting to discuss the North’s “non-existent human rights issue.”

It warned of “the toughest counteraction against the most vicious hostile plots of the US and its followers.”