North Korea on Monday demanded South Korea to put an all-out stop to its joint military exercises with the U.S.

DPRK Today, a state media outlet, said it is impossible for the two Koreas to think about peace and unification amid overt military threats that are raising inter-Korean tensions.

While calling on the South to refrain from taking issue with Pyongyang's self-defense measures, it said Seoul should instead respond to the North’s sincere efforts to ease strains and prevent military clashes.

It also claimed the North’s nuclear development is not a means of provocation and threat, but a self-defense move to safeguard the Korean people from a growing nuclear threat by the U.S. that is acknowledged by media outlets at home and abroad.