N Korea warns of ?tipping point?
 

SEOUL: **rth Korea on Sunday lashed out at a live-fire drill 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 rare live-fire drill as tensions grew over the peninsula following the **rth’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test held last week. The test sparked global alarm as it suggested **rth Korea **w possessed an ICBM capable of reaching Alaska, a major milestone for the reclusive, nuclear-armed state.

Saturday’s drill, designed to "sternly respond" to potential missile launches by the **rth, saw two US bombers destroy "enemy" missile batteries and South Korean jets mount precision strikes against underground command posts.

The **rth’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." "The US, with its dangerous military provocation, is pushing the risk of a nuclear war on the peninsula to a tipping point," it said, describing the peninsula as the "world’s biggest tinderbox."

During Saturday’s drill, long-range B-1B Lancer bombers reportedly flew close to the heavily-fortified border between two Koreas and dropped 2,000-pound (900 kilogram) bombs. Pyongyang described the joint drill as a "dangerous military gambit of warmongers who are trying to ignite the fuse of a nuclear war on the peninsula."

"A small misjudgment or error can immediately lead to the beginning of a nuclear war, which will inevitably lead to a**ther world war," it said. Tension has been high as the US administration under President Donald Trump and the **rth’s regime under leader Kim Jong-Un have exchanged hostile rhetoric for months.

Tension further escalated after Tuesday’s ICBM test, a milestone in the **rth’s decades-long quest for ******* capable of reaching the US. The impoverished, isolated country has staged five nuclear tests -- including two last year -- and has made a significant progress in its missile capability under Kim, who took power in 2011.

In a**ther drill held after the ICBM test, US and South Korean troops fired ballistic missiles simulating an attack on the **rth’s leadership "as a strong message of warning," the South’s military said at the time. The US Missile Defence Agency said on Friday it would soon test an anti-ballistic missile system in Alaska.

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