North Korea calls US gangster-like for 'nuclear strike drill'

North Korea has criticised the United States after its Air Force B-1 bombers, accompanied by fighter jets from South Korea and Japan, conducted a flyover near the Korean peninsula on Thursday.

The state-run news agency, KCNA, in a post said: "On Thursday, they let a formation of B-1B nuclear strategic bombers stationed at the Anderson Air Force Base on Guam stealthily fly into south Korea again to stage a surprise nuclear strike drill targeting the DPRK."

Pyongyang called the U.S. a gangster-like for threatening them.

"The gangster-like U.S. imperialists are ceaselessly resorting to their frantic nuclear threat and blackmail to stifle the DPRK with nukes at any cost," the post read.

North Korea accused the U.S. of igniting a nuclear war.

"The reality clearly shows that the gangster-like U.S. imperialists are the very one who are aggravating the situation of the Korean peninsula and seeking to ignite a nuclear war," it said.

Earlier in October, the U.S. carried out a similar exercise, which was also the first joint mission between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan simultaneously.

North Korea claimed in September that it had carried out a successful test of a hydrogen bomb, which the country plans to mount on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with the capability of reaching the U.S. mainland.

However, the country has not shown the capability to reach the mainland United States with missile technology so far.

-ANI