North Korea has denounced a major joint exercise planned by the South Korean and US militaries as "direct military provocation" and warned of counteraction, despite signs of easing tension across the border under a new leader in Seoul.

South Korea’s military said Saturday it detected North Korea removing some of its loudspeakers from the inter-Korean border, days after the South dismantled its own front-line speakers used for anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts,

North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea's military said Saturday, days after Seoul's new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier.