SEOUL - South Korea said on Friday that its joint military drills with the United States will go ahead as scheduled, rejecting North Korea's calls to stop "provocative" war games and urging Pyongyang to show with actions that it is serious about peace.

North Korea called on the South late on Thursday to stop the drills scheduled for February and March and mutually take steps to ease tensions including a moratorium on verbal attacks against each other.

"The Key Resolve and the Foal Eagle exercises will go ahead as scheduled ... (South Korea) is a democratic country so we do not engage in preemptive strikes," South's defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a briefing.