Pyongyang’s envoy to the UN-backed Conference on Disarmament has lashed out at the US over its latest military exercises with South Korea.

Ju Yong-chol accused Washington of “inciting military tension” by deploying powerful military hardware on the peninsula, AP said.

Tuesday’s comments came as recently improved ties between the Trump administration and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appear to be fraying over the exercises and four North Korean weapons launches in recent weeks.

Although US and South Korean authorities “are playing every trick to justify this military exercise, they can neither conceal nor whitewash its aggressive nature in any manner,” Ju said in Geneva.