North Korea’s foreign ministry called on the UN today to demand an immediate end to joint US-South Korean military exercises, saying they are raising tensions on the Korean peninsula to the point where they risk spiraling out of control.

The drills and rhetoric by the allies “irresponsibly raise the level of confrontation,” Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-Gyong said in a statement carried by North Korea’s KCNA news agency.

US and South Korean forces will hold 10 days of military exercises this month, including amphibious landings, officials from the two countries said on Friday.

Washington and Seoul stress that holding joint military exercises is necessary to counter growing threats from North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development programs, which have been banned by UN Security Council resolutions.

On Saturday, North Korea blamed the United States for the collapse of the international arms control system and argued that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons are a just response to ensure the balance of power in the region.

“The UN and the international community should strongly urge the US and South Korea to immediately stop their provocative statements and joint military exercises,” North Korea’s vice foreign minister said, adding that it was regrettable that the United Nations remained silent. Fish about these exercises, which Pyongyang says are “clearly aggressive in nature”.

Last month, North Korea’s foreign ministry described as “extremely unfair and discriminatory” the attitude of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, regarding his reactions to Pyongyang’s missile tests.