During a meeting held at the North's request at the truce village of Panmunjom, North Korean officers read a statement to U.S. soldiers saying the exercises would have a "catastrophic impact" on ongoing six-nation negotiations on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

North Korea also said it would "do all it can to round off the powerful striking means to cope with the large-scale war maneuvers to be staged against" it. The statement was carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.

Such threats by North Korea are common, and the country regularly criticizes the annual Ulchi Focus Lens military exercises, held since 1975.

The drills are to involve about 10,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and abroad, according to the U.S. military.

The U.S. insists the drills are solely defensive and not a threat, and U.S. Army Col. John Towers repeated that position during the 35-minute meeting with his North Korean counterpart Friday, the U.S. military said.

This year's exercise is scheduled for Aug. 20-31, meaning it would overlap with a meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas on Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang, the second summit since the peninsula was divided after World War II.

Some local media reports have suggested that the drills could be delayed because of the summit, but the U.S. military declined to comment on the reports Friday.

About 28,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

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