North Korea has threatened to launch a preemptive attack if it sees any signs by South Korean and U.S. troops attempting a special operation to decapitate the North's regime.

Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) reported that the North issued the threat on Wednesday in a special statement from the North Korean government, political parties and organizations.

In the statement, the North strongly criticized the joint drills between Seoul and Washington that entered their second half focusing on a joint battalion-level simulated exercise aimed at attacking key facilities in a mock-up North Korean city.

The North said that South Korea and the U.S. are frantically staging massive drills in line with the second phase of the exercise that includes an operation to advance into inland areas targeting the North’s strategic regions.

In the first part of the drills, South Korea and the U.S. conducted exercises focusing on defense capabilities against possible attacks from the North. The two sides continued with the second part of the drill from Monday.