North Korea warns of nuclear war after US bombers carry out ‘provocative’ live-fire drills

North Korean state media has condemned a US bombing drill on the Korean peninsula, warning that the move could spark a nuclear war.

An editorial published in state newspaper Rodong Sinmun Sunday accused the US of “military provocations” which are raising the threat of nuclear conflict to an extreme level.

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“The Korean peninsula is the largest gunpowder area in the world with the highest risk of nuclear war, and is the largest hot spot in the world where there is always a risk of nuclear war. [The US] is surely spreading into a new world war,” the piece reads.  

The article also accuses the Trump administration of using the Korean peninsula to distract from the US president’s “serious crisis of power” at home.

The US Air Force sent two B-1B strategic bombers to carry out live-fire tests on a training range in South Korea Friday. Fighter jets from South Korea and Japan also joined in the drill.

The US military said the drill “demonstrated America’s ironclad commitment to the defense of our allies”.

READ MORE: US B-1 bombers join S. Korean jets for live-fire drills in response to North’s missile tests (VIDEO)

The exercise, which targets mock enemy missile launch sites, came three days after North Korea pointedly tested an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4, Independence Day in the US.

The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting on the situation, and Trump denounced the missile test on Twitter.