The U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise pushes the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war, said the ceremonial leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) at the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the Iranian capital on Thursday.

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, said that the Korean Peninsula is one of the world's most tense regions and the ongoing exercise between the United States and South Korea will push the Peninsula to the verge of war.

Recently, Americans have deployed many up-to-date weapons to the region, which threatens the DPRK, Kim said.

South Korea and the United States are on a joint military exercise on Aug. 20 to 31, aiming to enhance defense readiness against potential security threats in the Korean Peninsula, according to military officials in Seoul.

The DPRK will build war-deterrence forces to protect the country, and cooperate with any country dedicated to the unification of the Korean Peninsula, said the DPRK leader.

He meanwhile also called for the members of the NAM to maintain solidarity, saying that the history of the NAM has proven that unity can bring success and division causes failure.

The leader also emphasized that the Western sanctions imposed on Iran and Syria should be removed.

Heads of state or government from over 100 countries participated in the two-day NAM summit, which opened in Tehran on Thursday.