Pyongyang warned Washington and Seoul against any attempt to stage a "special operation" to hit the DPRK leadership and its strategic military installations, promising deterrent “deadly blows” and “miserable doom,” state news agency KCNA reported citing military sources.

The warnings came as troops from the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) conduct their annual joint military exercises, which Seoul has dubbed the "largest-ever" by the allies.

“The General Staff declares the KPA's (Korean People’s Army) stand to mercilessly smash the enemy's moves with its own style of special operation and preemptive attack,” KCNA said quoting a spokesman’s statement.

The General Staff, the senior military leadership of the armed forces of the DPRK, warned that once the US and ROK "(launch) the operation and strike, they will only face a miserable doom and a final ruin.”

The statement also alerted Washington and Seoul that Pyongyang will not stand idly by while it watches their troops that are “targeting the DPRK remain deployed in and around South Korea.”

“The KPA will deal deadly blows without prior warning any time,” the statement read.

The large-scale joint military exercises began earlier in March amid tensions following Pyongyang’s ballistic missile launch on February and the death of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, for which Seoul held Pyongyang accountable.

The DPRK has already condemned the annual exercises and Pak Myong Ho, charge d’affaires of the DPRK embassy in Beijing said “the joint military drills by the US and ROK are the cause of the deteriorating situation on the Korean Peninsula, and the place is on the edge of nuclear war.”