PYONGYANG, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) state media on Friday criticized South Korea for increasing military budget and holding military air drills in recent days.

The official Minju Joson daily said in a commentary that the South Korean Defense Ministry held a meeting of the Committee for the Promotion of Defense recently and decided to purchase high-tech equipment including early-warning radar against ballistic missiles and the latest anti-submarine aircraft from abroad.

Moreover, the South Korean military also staged a combined air drill for combat-readiness under the pretext of taking "security measures," it said.

Such moves were dangerous military proceedings contrary to the "military agreement to implement the Panmunjom declaration" in which the north and the south promised to remove the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula and put an end to hostile relations, it said.

"The reckless moves of the South Korean military swimming against the trend of the times can never be justified in any case, as they are criminal acts harmful to the development of the present north-south relations," it warned.

The South Korean military signed a military agreement with the DPRK in September for easing military tension between the two countries and for removing the danger of war, but it "remains unchanged in its military moves against the fellow countrymen in the north," the commentary said.

Such double-dealing behavior is the one against the nation that can never be overlooked, it added.