The United States and South Korea began on Monday what the South Korean military bills as their "largest-ever" air exercise, in the wake of North Korea's test-launch last week of what it claims was a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile.

The five-day annual Vigilant Ace exercise, involving more than 230 warplanes from the two sides, aims to demonstrate the allies' combined air power against North Korea.

Six U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets landed at an air base in the southeastern city of Gwangju last Saturday, with F-35B stealth fighters deployed in Japan and B-1B bombers stationed in the U.S. territory of Guam also expected to join the exercise along with South Korean warplanes, according to Yonhap News Agency.

It is quite unusual for the U.S. military to deploy such advanced jets as the F-22 to the South.

Through the exercise, the two sides will focus on simulated precision airstrikes on mock North Korean nuclear and missile targets and mobile missile launchers, Yonhap said.

In a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea criticized the air exercise on Sunday for raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"The projected war rehearsal is just a grave military provocation which will push the already acute situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war," a spokesman for North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification said.

The spokesman warned the United States and South Korea that "their escalating provocation and adding to crimes will only invite more terrible retaliation and precipitate their self-destruction."

(Korea Media)