TOKYO, August 14. /TASS/. North Korean state-run television aired a video showing nation’s soldiers using a photo of South Korean President Park Geun-hye as a shooting target, Japan’s NHK television reported on Friday.

The report said such footage was shown on North Korea’s state-run television for the first time, but earlier it had repeatedly criticized the South Korean leader.

The South Korean Unification Ministry lashed out at Pyongyang for such a move, demanding that it never be repeated. This action "incites ethnic hatred," NHK quoted the ministry report as saying.

The Japanese television also noted that a joint military exercise of South Korea and the United States, Ulchi Freedom Guardian, was scheduled for August 17, saying North Korea could have taken the provocative step to oppose that.