DPRK threatened on Wednesday to retaliate if the United States goes ahead with scheduled military drills with the Republic of Korea (ROK), ramping up pressure on Washington to change course as a year-end DPRK deadline for U.S. flexibility approaches. DPRK has tested the limits of engagement with a string of missile launches, emboldened by the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, analysts and officials say.

The statement came even though Washington said last week that the joint aerial exercise planned for next month would be reduced in scope from previous drills.

The ROK and the U.S. conducted regular joint drills in March and August this year, but the size of the drills was scaled back in an apparent effort not to provoke DPRK, Yonhap News Agency reported. 

The State Affairs Commission (SAC), chaired by leader Kim Jong-un, also repeated that Pyongyang would seek a "new way" unless Washington changes its stance and comes up with new solutions in their nuclear talks by the end of this year.

"It is self-defense rights" to retaliate against any move which threatens its sovereignty and security, according to a SAC statement.

A SAC spokesman said the U.S. should suspend the drills "at a sensitive time when the situation on the Korean Peninsula could go back to the starting point due to the joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea," according the DPRK's state-run Korean Central News Agency.

The spokesman said the U.S. could face a "greater threat and be forced to admit its failure, being put into trouble before long if it doesn't do anything to change the trend of the present situation" on the Korean Peninsula.

The spokesman also said the drills violate agreements between Trump and Kim.

"We, without being given anything, gave things the U.S. president can brag about but the U.S. side has not yet taken any corresponding steps. Now, betrayal is only what we feel from the U.S. side," the spokesman said.

Last week, a senior DPRK diplomat also blamed the U.S. joint aerial drill for "throwing cold water" over talks with Washington. Pyongyang opposes U.S.-ROK joint military exercises, viewing them as a rehearsal for invasion.

Kim in April gave the U.S. a year-end deadline to show more flexibility in stalled denuclearization talks, after his talks with President Trump collapsed in Hanoi in February.

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(With input from Reuters, Yonhap)