North Korea slams US-South Korea military drills and threatens strong response

North Korea has threatened unspecified stern steps against the United States and South Korea, slamming their upcoming military drills as a war rehearsal that it claimed would be more provocative than last yearByHYUNG-JIN KIM Associated PressSEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea on Friday threatened unspecified stern steps against the United States and South Korea ahead of their upcoming military drills, which Pyongyang called a war rehearsal that would be more provocative than last year.The warning is typical of the harsh rhetoric that North Korea often deploys ahead of major U.S.-South Korean military exercises and suggests the country could conduct more missile tests in coming days. Experts say North Korea has often used its rivals' drills as a pretext to ramp up its testing activities to expand its weapons arsenals and promote public support for leader Kim Jong Un. The U.S. and South Korean militaries are to start their major summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises Monday and have described their scope as similar to past years. The allies have said the 11-day exercises are meant to strengthen their readiness against North Korean threats and reiterated that they are defensive in na...