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South Korea and the US last held their Vigilant Ace joint air exercise from Dec. 4 to 8, 2017. (South Korean Air Force)

South Korea and the US will reportedly be carrying out an exercise to substitute their Vigilant Ace large-scale joint air exercise in the middle of November, sources said on Nov. 7.

North Korea described the exercise as a “declaration of confrontation” and said that “our patience is nearing [its] limitations,” warning that Pyongyang could make a military response.

The exercise will reportedly be held separately by the South Korean Air Force and the US 7th Air Force, which is stationed in South Korea, followed up by drills at the battalion level and below assessing joint readiness.

“We’re planning to hold an exercise in the middle of this month on a smaller scale than the Vigilant Ace exercises of the past. We’re also looking into the option of changing the name of the exercise,” said a source in the military.

On Nov. 4, the US Defense Department stated that it was moving forward with preparations for carrying out this year’s joint air exercise as planned, but that it wouldn’t use the name “Vigilant Ace.”

Last year, South Korea and the US also replaced Vigilant Ace with a combat readiness exercise. The scale of that exercise was reduced to the battalion level and below, and American strategic assets that North Korea objects to, such as the F-22 Raptor, were not deployed for the exercise.

During their 50th Security Consultative Meeting, South Korea and the US agreed to suspend Vigilant Ace to provide military support for diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and establish peace there.

“The US announcement of the combined aerial exercise plan [. . .] a month [after] the breakdown of the Stockholm DPRK [North Korea]-US technical negotiations amounts to a declaration of confrontation with the DPRK,” said Kwon Jong-gun, roving ambassador for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement released on Wednesday.

“No one will believe that the changed [name of the] war exercises will change their [aggressive] nature,” Kwon added.

“We have already emphasized more than once that the planned joint military exercise can block DPRK-US relations from advancing and compel us to reconsider the crucial measures we have already taken.”

Kwon argued that “Our patience is nearing [its] limitations and we will never remain an onlooker to the reckless military moves of the US.”