North Korea issued a warning to the United States and South Korea demanding that they cancel their annual joint military drills scheduled to begin in late February, Reuters reported.

Last year, the reclusive country said it would retaliate against any "hostile" moves by attacking the United States Japan and South Korea "triggering a military buildup on the Korean peninsula and months of fiery rhetoric," Reuters reported.

North Korea warned that the military drill would only strain inter-Korean relations.

North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland issued the warning in a statement released by the North Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday.

"(North Korea) sternly warns the United States and South Korea to halt any military drills that will ruin the inter-Korean relations," said the statement, released by the News Agency. "The northbound nuclear war drills, if carried out, will fatally destroy the inter-Korean relations and trigger unimaginable calamities and disasters."

A member of the North Committee also added that the drills are equivalent to a declaration of "full scale nuclear war."

South Korean Ministry of Defense spokesperson Kim Min-Seok told reporters that the military drills are going forward as planned.

"If North Korea actually commits military aggression at the excuse of what is a normal exercise we conduct as preparation for emergency, our military will mercilessly and decisively punish them," Min-Seok said, according to Reuters

Reuters reported that North and South Korea remain technically at war since their civil conflict in 1950-53 ended in a truce.

China, North Korea's only ally, said it is in the two Koreas interest to improve relations.

"We hope both sides can mutually express good intentions, adopt practical measures to improve relations between the north and south, and make efforts to push development of the regional situation in a stable direction," Hong Lei, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.