North Korea on Thursday criticized plans to replace large-scale U.S. – ROK joint military exercises with smaller drills, saying the move violated recent diplomatic agreements.

Although the U.S. and South Korea announced on March 3 the would cancel the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises and replace them with unit level training, the concession did not appear to be enough for Pyongyang.

“The ill-boding moves of the south Korean military authorities and the U.S. are a wanton violation of the DPRK-U.S. joint statement and the north-south declarations in which the removal of hostility and tensions were committed