Captured during the Korean War and imprisoned for decades for refusing to renounce his communist beliefs, 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop now has a single dying wish: to return to North Korea and be buried alongside his comrades.

Pyongyang regularly criticizes such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said a U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise could "ignite a war" and called for the rapid expansion of Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities.