By Kim Hyo-jin



North Korea sent a protest letter to the United Nations over the joint Korea-U.S. military exercises last week, the Voice of America (VOA) reported Tuesday.



According to the VOA report, North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Ja Song-nam wrote to French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre, who is president of the U.N. Security Council, saying, "Washington and Seoul are conducting nuclear war practice against the North."



The letter was sent a day after Korea-U.S. military drills began on March 2. They are scheduled to continue until next Monday.



Ja attached a recent statement Pyongyang issued to denounce the joint drills, and called on the Security Council president to designate the statement along with the letter as an official document of the U.N. Security Council, the VOA said.



Pyongyang has reverted to saber rattling and threatening to take countermeasures against the annual drills.



In an apparent protest against the start of the joint military exercises, it launched two short-range missiles into the East Sea last Monday.



In response, Seoul wrote to the U.N. two days later, calling for punishment of Pyongyang for its test-firings, according to a government source.



