North Korea says UN should demand end to S. Korea-US military drills

North Korea's foreign ministry on Sunday called on the United Nations to demand an immediate halt to combined military drills by the United States and South Korea, saying they were raising tensions that threaten to spiral out of control.

The drills are an "irresponsible escalation of tensions", Kim Sun Kyung, vice minister of foreign affairs, said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.

The United States and South Korea will conduct more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises in March, including amphibious landings, officials from the two countries said on Friday.

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North Korea on Saturday blamed the United States for what it said was the collapse of international arms control systems and said Pyongyang's nuclear weapons were a just response to ensure the balance of power in the region.

The allies also conducted a combined air drill with an American long-range bomber and South Korean fighter aircraft on Friday, and have been staging weeks of exercises for special operations troops.

"The United Nations and the international community should strongly demand an immediate halt to the provocative actions and joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea," Kim said.

It is regrettable that the UN has been consistently silent on the exercises, which are "clearly of an invasive nature," he said.

The United States and South Korea say the exercises are in self-defence and are necessary to counter the rising threats from North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes, which are banned by UN Security Council resolutions.