"Should [North Korea] ignore our advice and press ahead with provocations, we will make it bitterly regret through stern retaliation," the JCS said in a statement as quoted by the agency.
Seoul and Pyongyang signed a ceasefire after the 1950-1953 Korean War, but the two Koreas formally remain in a state of war.
After North Korea launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite atop a long-range rocket earlier in February, defying a UN Security Council resolution which bans Pyongyang from launching rockets that could be used as ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads, the United States deployed additional Patriot air-defense missiles in South Korea.
The US-South Korean military exercises scheduled for next month, though conducted annually, this year will be the largest ever, according to Seoul officials.
