North Korea sharply criticized a live-fire drill which the US and South Korea staged in a show of force against Pyongyang, accusing Washington of pushing the peninsula to the “tipping point” of nuclear war.
The allies held the live-fire drill amid growing tensions in the peninsula following the North’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test held last week.
The test sparked global alarm as it suggested North Korea now possessed an ICBM capable of reaching Alaska.
Saturday’s drill, designed to “sternly respond” to potential missile launches by the North, saw two US bombers destroy “enemy” missile batteries and South Korean jets mount precision strikes against underground command posts.
The North’s state-run Rodong newspaper accused Washington and Seoul of ratcheting up tensions with the drill, in an editorial titled “Don’t play with fire on a powder keg.”