SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemned South Korean-U.S. military drills and vowed a rapid expansion of his nuclear forces to counter rivals, state media said Tuesday, as he inspected his most advanced warship being fitted with nuclear-capable systems.

Pyongyang regularly criticizes such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has denounced a joint military exercise under way between South Korea and the United States as showing their will to “ignite a war” and reaffirming the most “hostile” stance toward the North,