The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday lashed out at the United States for beefing up aggressive air exercises against it, warning that such actions will strain the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"On June 5 and 8, the U.S. imperialist aggression forces kicked up war atmosphere by transferring pursuit assault planes, refueling tanker and commanding planes from their bases in Japan to their air force bases in south Korea," the KCNA quoted a military source as saying.

The DPRK also claimed that since Tuesday there were at least more than 300 war planes belonging to the U.S. 7th Air Force had taken part in "air battle drills and exercises of striking targets on the ground and providing close air support" in the airspace of South Korea.

About 29,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

Source: Xinhua