North Korea warned the top U.S. military commander in South Korea on Saturday that if the United States pressed ahead with joint military exercises with South Korea scheduled to begin next month, it could set off a war in which U.S. forces would "meet a miserable destruction." The warning came as the U.S. and South Korean militaries planned to start joint war games early next month. The allies regularly conduct such joint military drills, and whenever they happen, North Korea threatens to deliver a devastating blow to U.S. and South Korean troops.