Seoul, 6 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The joint US-South Korean military drills currently under way are pushing the region "to the brink of a nuclear war," North Korean state media KCNA said on Thursday.

The outlet released a commentary by "international security analyst" Choe Ju Hyon that denounced the exercises as "a trigger for driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the point of explosion."

"The reckless military confrontational hysteria of the US and its followers against [North Korea] is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to an irreversible catastrophe," the article in the Pyongyang mouthpiece said.

Tests by North Korea of ballistic missiles, which can be equipped with a nuclear warhead in some cases, have considerably increased tensions on the Korean peninsula in the past year.

In the face of growing tensions with North Korea, the US and its ally South Korea have been demonstrating their military strength.

According to the South Korean Defence Ministry, the US sent a long-range B-52H bomber to the peninsula for air drills on Wednesday. The bomber can serve as a nuclear weapons carrier.

The successive deployments of strategic weapons systems to the region underscored US efforts to improve the credibility of extended deterrence, Seoul said.

By extended deterrence, the US means the full range of its military capabilities to defend South Korea - including nuclear weapons.

The latest air exercise between the two countries took place over the Yellow Sea between the Korean Peninsula and China, according to South Korean media reports.

US naval forces recently held joint anti-submarine warfare exercises with South Korea and Japan.