SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) condemned the recent military provocations by the United States and its allies, and clarified its stance of exercising the right to self-defense in response, state media said Friday, citing a press statement by the country's Foreign Ministry.

The statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, denounced the US military moves this month of sending strategic reconnaissance planes and strategic bombers over the Korean Peninsula as well as holding a trilateral air drill with Japan and South Korea and a joint air live firing drill with South Korea.

The US political and military provocations are "the direct root cause of inciting the danger of armed conflict and disturbing the regional stability," the statement said.

The statement expressed serious concern over the provocations and reiterated the DPRK's stance of "more intensively" exercising the right to self-defense to protect its sovereign rights and security interests.