This undated photo released by North Korea鈥檚 official Korean Central 好色先生TV Agency (KCNA) via the Korean 好色先生TV Service (KNS) on March 11, 2013 shows Korean People鈥檚 Navy holding a military drill in an undisclosed location. AFP PHOTO / KCNA / KNS
SEOUL鈥擭orth Korean jet fighters have flown an 鈥渦nprecedented鈥� number of sorties in recent days in apparent response to a joint South Korean-US military exercise, a report said Wednesday.
The number of sorties by fighter jets and helicopters peaked at 700 on Monday, the same day the 鈥淜ey Resolve鈥� exercise was launched, Yonhap news agency cited a military source as saying.
The volume of flight missions 鈥渋s seen as unprecedented in scale鈥�, the unidentified source said.
The South Korean Defense Ministry declined to confirm the report, but reiterated that the North鈥檚 army, navy and air force were carrying out drills ahead of an expected state-wide exercise.
鈥淜ey Resolve鈥� is an annual, largely computer-simulated exercise, but still involves the mobilization of more than 10,000 South Korean and 3,500 US military personnel. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea.
Pyongyang condemned the drill as a provocative invasion rehearsal and announced it was scrapping the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War in response.
Military tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen to their highest level for years, with the communist state threatening nuclear war in response to UN sanctions imposed after its third atomic test last month.