North Korea is prepared to launch a preemptive nuclear strike in response to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint drills by the U.S. and South Korea, a Rodong Sinmun editorial said Thursday.

The editorial, entitled “Preemptive Attack, Our Choice Now” and credited to an author named Choe Chol Sun, follows other warnings by North Korean state media about the annual UFG drills and accusations that the U.S. and South Korea are planning a nuclear strike on the North.

“For all our warnings and world public denunciation the U.S. and its south Korean puppets set about a joint military exercise (Ulchi) Freedom