North Korea on Saturday denounced Japan for conducting a joint military drill with the Britain, saying that Tokyo is moving to emerge as a military giant, Pyongyang's state-run media reported.

Japan and the Britain agreed earlier to hold the countries' first joint fighter drill sometime in October, in defiance of North Korea's provocations.

"Japan's moves to emerge a military giant have reached a grave phase," according to the Korean Central News Agency report monitored in Seoul.

The KCNA further said "this is part of the moves of the Japanese reactionaries to convert Japan into a military giant as they are working hard to realize their militarist ambition at any cost with the backing of the US keen to dominate the world."

The North argued that Japan is a war criminal which imposed immeasurable misfortune and pain, saying that it is "the only shameless country in the world which has persistently denied its state obligation to make an apology." (Yonhap)