AKIPRESS.COM - South Korea and the United States said on Tuesday they would launch their annual joint military exercises on March 2, setting the stage for a likely surge in tensions with North Korea.

Pyongyang had offered a moratorium on nuclear testing if this year's joint drills were cancelled -- a proposal rejected by Washington as an "implicit threat" to carry out a fourth nuclear test.

The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises are a perennial source of tension on the divided Korean peninsula.

Seoul and Washington insist they are defensive in nature, but they are regularly condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

"The whole course of Key Resolve and Foal Eagle is aimed to occupy (North Korea) through preemptive strikes," the North's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial Tuesday.

By refusing to cancel this year's exercises, Seoul and Washington had effectively "scuppered" any chance of resuming a dialogue with Pyongyang, the editorial said.

"What remains to be done is to militarily react to the US while bolstering up war deterrence to the maximum," it added.

Key Resolve lasts just over a week and is a largely computer-simulated exercise. The eight-week Foal Eagle drill involves air, ground and naval field training, with around 200,000 Korean and 3,700 US troops.

Both exercises will begin on March 2, with Key Resolve lasting until March 13 and Foal Eagle winding up on April 24, South Korea's defence ministry said.