SEOUL, September 5. /TASS/. The Korean Peninsula has become the stage of the most intensive military exercises worldwide due to the actions of the United States and South Korea, which provokes the growth of tension in the region, the North Korean Defense Ministry's press service chief said.

"No such area as the Korean peninsula can be found on earth, where the joint military exercises targeting a sovereign state under different codenames such as Freedom Shield, combined joint formation drill, joint airborne infiltration drill, Iron Mace are being staged in succession," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the press office as saying.

"It is the well-known fact that the accumulation of such threatening actions on the Korean peninsula, the hottest spot in the state of armistice in the world, will only spark off tensions and drive the security environment in the region into an irreversibly catastrophic situation," the spokesperson said.

The official recalled that the US and South Korea held "the largest-ever joint military exercises Ulji Freedom Shield" on August 19-29. He added that "Ssangyong drill with the involvement of division-level forces, 40-odd warships and various kinds of 80-odd military planes and armored vehicles is an extremely reckless and dangerous military racket."

"The provocative anti-DPRK military drills being staged by the US and the ROK under the eyes of the DPRK without a time gap from the outset of this year clearly show what the source of escalating tension is and where the dark clouds of security instability are coming from on the Korean peninsula," the representative added.

The Defense Ministry pledged to step up its deterrence capabilities in response.

"The hostile forces can never evade the heavy responsibility for escalating tension and will have to pay a dear price," the press service chief urged.