South Korean and U.S. special forces have staged a joint infiltration exercise to strike North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities.

"Troops of South Korean Air Force's combat control team, an infiltration commando unit, and the U.S. Air Force's 353rd Special Operations Group staged a joint exercise at Gunsan Air Base recently," a military spokesman here said on Thursday.

The exercise, dubbed "Teak Knife," saw military transport aircraft of the two countries focused on flying low to practice infiltrating the North. The exercise has been carried out regularly since the 1990s but rarely announced publicly.

The purpose was to transport a group of Army special forces who are tasked with destroying the North's nuclear and missile facilities, as well as munitions, to a target region with pinpoint accuracy.

The 353rd Special Operations Group headquartered at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, has missions to send commandos into enemy territory and supply them with munitions. The group consists of about 800 personnel.

"The latest Teak Knife exercise focused on infiltrating an inland area in the North to destroy key facilities," the spokesman added. "It's different from a decapitation strike operation targeting the North Korean leadership."

Meanwhile, during the "Red Flag-Alaska" exercise, a multinational aerial combat exercise conducted in Alaska on Oct. 10-21, South Korean Air Force's transport aircraft practiced airlifting U.S. Army special forces troops.

There have been some calls in the U.S. recently for a preemptive strike in case North Korea's nuclear and missile programs get out of hand.