The North Korean Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday denouncing recent joint air drills between Washington and Seoul, South Korea. In that statement, the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) said this was a “catastrophic escalation” and the chances of a nuclear war are now “realistic.”

The drills that irritated North Korea involved at least one U.S. nuclear-capable B-52 bomber, saying the exercises only heighten the risk of conflict on the Korean Peninsula, according to a report by RT.  “Due to the irresponsible actions of the United States and South Korea, which are concentrating only on belligerent armed demonstrations thick with gunpowder, contrary to the international community’s desire for tension relief and political stability, the risk of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula is shifting from an imaginary stage to a realistic one,” the ministry said, adding that the drills “clearly” show the U.S. is preparing for a war with the DPRK.

Similar joint military combat exercises were also launched last Friday. Those drills included the use of a U.S. B-1B strategic bomber, while yet another drill will be held next week to simulate the U.S. and South Korean response to a missile attack by the DPRK. Additionally, beginning on March 13, the two allies will carry out the largest drills in the region in five years, which will continue for 11 days.

North Korea: U.S. Efforts To Interfere With Weapons Tests Are A “Clear Declaration Of War”

North Korea is been vocal lately about the U.S. insistence on provoking any entity it can into a full-scale war. Oddly, it feels like the U.S. is “lucky” that Russia, North Korea, and China have been reserved in their actions against it so far.

“The large-scale U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise that will begin in a few days” are of an “aggressive nature,” the ministry continued, going on to predict a “catastrophic escalation that will result from it.”