North Korean leader criticises South Korea-US air drill

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has blasted South Korea and the United States for their largest-ever air exercise, calling it a threat against peace on the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang's official media said Sunday. On April 11, Seoul and Washington launched the annual Max Thunder exercise meant to boost their air defense capability. The drill, which involves about 103 warplanes and some 1,400 pilots from the two allies, will run through Friday. "The enemies kicked off a combined air drill in the wake of a large-scale combined landing exercise, pushing the situation to the brink of war and threatening peace on the Korean peninsula," the North's official Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as telling a meeting of military pilots on Tuesday. The North has denounced Seoul and Washington for launching military drills to prepare "a nuclear war," threatening to carry out a "new form" of atomic test to bolster its nuclear deterrence. The impoverished communist state conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, drawing international condemnation and United Nations sanctions. On Friday, South Korea and the United States finished the two-month-long Foal Eagle exercise after conducting a series of combat field trainings aimed at enhancing their joint combat readiness against North Korea. The allies also held a two-week war game, Key Resolve, from Feb. 24 to March 6, involving 10,000 South Korean troops and 5,200 American forces to improve joint deterrence. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.