Pyongyang: North Korea on Tuesday accused the United States of making a grave military provocation by sending a formation of B-1B nuclear strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula for the second time in weeks.

The formation flew over South Korea "once again to stage a nuclear bomb dropping drill" on Monday, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"The formation of B-1B took off from Guam at the dawn of the day and flew over the 80 km of the east of Kangrung on the East Sea of Korea near the Military Demarcation Line," the report said.

"It frantically staged a joint drill making a precision strike against North Korea's major targets together with pursuit and assault planes on the nuclear aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, which is conducting a joint naval drill with the puppet navy on the East Sea of Korea," it said.

This was the second time for B-1B bombers to stage a nuclear bomb dropping drill in South Korea within several weeks, according to North Korean officials. </s> Pyongyang: North Korea on Tuesday accused the US of making a grave military provocation by sending a formation of B-1B nuclear strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula for a second time in weeks.

The formation flew over South Korea "once again to stage a nuclear bomb dropping drill" on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The formation of B-1B took off from Guam at the dawn of the day and flew over the 80 km of the east of Kangrung on the East Sea of Korea near the Military Demarcation Line," the report said.

"It frantically staged a joint drill making a precision strike against North Korea's major targets together with pursuit and assault planes on the nuclear aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, which is conducting a joint naval drill with the puppet navy on the East Sea of Korea," it said.

This was the second time for B-1B bombers to stage a nuclear bomb dropping drill in South Korea within several weeks, according to North Korean officials. </s> PYONGYANG: North Korea on Tuesday accused the US of making a grave military provocation by sending a formation of B-1B nuclear strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula for a second time in weeks.The formation flew over South Korea "once again to stage a nuclear bomb dropping drill" on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported."The formation of B-1B took off from Guam at the dawn of the day and flew over the 80 km of the east of Kangrung on the East Sea of Korea near the Military Demarcation Line," the report said."It frantically staged a joint drill making a precision strike against North Korea's major targets together with pursuit and assault planes on the nuclear aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, which is conducting a joint naval drill with the puppet navy on the East Sea of Korea," it said.This was the second time for B-1B bombers to stage a nuclear bomb dropping drill in South Korea within several weeks, according to North Korean officials. </s> Alwaght- North Korea says a pair of US bombers has practiced dropping a nuclear bomb, while flying over the Korean Peninsula in joint wargames with the South, rebuking Washington for pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.

In a Tuesday report, the North’s official KCNA news agency slammed the US for deploying two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers during a drill with the South Korean air force a day earlier.

It said the bombers conducted “a nuclear bomb dropping drill against major objects” in its territory at a time when US President Donald Trump and “other US warmongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike” on the North.

“The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war,” the report added.

The US air force said in a statement that the bombers had flown from Guam to conduct training exercises with the South Korean and Japanese air forces.

The South Korean Defense Ministry also said Monday’s joint maneuvers were conducted to deter provocations by the North and to test readiness against another potential nuclear test.

The deployment of the US bombers comes as tensions on the Korean Peninsula have significantly spiked in recent weeks.

The United States has already sent an aircraft carrier strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson, to waters off the Korean Peninsula for military exercises with South Korea and Japan.

Pyongyang has been subjected to international pressure, including US sanctions and Security Council resolutions, to abandon its arms development and nuclear programs. Yet, it says the programs are meant to protect the country from US hostility. </s> SEOUL: South Korea said on Tuesday it had conducted a joint drill with a U.S. supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber after North Korea's state media earlier accused the United States of staging a drill to practise dropping nuclear bombs on the Korean peninsula.

Moon Sang-gyun, a spokesman for the South Korean defence ministry, said the exercise took place on Monday but declined to give further details.

Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea's state media said the B-1B bomber flew over South Korea to stage "a nuclear bomb dropping drill". </s> The threat comes just hours after US President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang that if they continued to threaten the US, they would "face fire and fury like the world has never seen."

Dubbed the "Tip of the Spear," Guam is a key to the US military's forward deployed presence in the Pacific and is home to thousands of American service members and their families.

The statement from a spokesman from the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army, warned that recent US military maneuvers —including an intercontinental ballistic missile test last week and a bomber flight on Monday -- "may provoke a dangerous conflict."

Specifically, the statement mentioned a potential strike on "Anderson Air Force Base in which the US strategic bombers, which get on the nerves of the DPRK and threaten and blackmail it through their frequent visits to the sky above south Korea, are stationed and to send a serious warning signal to the US."

The US flew two B1B bombers over the Korean peninsula on Monday, according to a spokesman with Pacific Air Forces. The bombers flew out of Anderson AFB in Guam on Monday as part of its "continuous bomber presence", according to the spokesman. The bombers were joined by Japanese and South Korean aircraft. The North Korean statement on Guam references this action. This was before Trump's warning to North Korea on Tuesday. </s> North Korea has released a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence in the country on humanitarian grounds.

State media in the secretive country said Rim Hyon Su has been released on sick bail.

The move comes as fears grow of a nuclear war between the US and North Korea.

"Rim Hyon Su, a Canadian civilian, was released on sick bail according to the decision of the Central Court of the DPRK on August 9, 2017, from the humanitarian viewpoint," North Korean media said.

Also known as Hyeon Soo Lim, who served at one of the largest churches in Canada, he was sentenced to hard labour for life in December 2015 for what North Korea says was an attempt to overthrow the regime.

The US military today released pictures of supersonic B-1B bombers flying from Guam after North Korea threatened to strike an American airbase on the Pacific island.

Two US Air Force B-1B jets took part in 10-hour mission over the Korean peninsula just hours before Kim Jong-un revealed plans to strike the remote island.

Kim Jong-un's intentions were revealed shortly after Trump announced any threat to America would be met with "fire and fury".

US Democrats slammed Trump for his “bombastic” and “unhinged” comments, while White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway described them as “strong and obvious”.

Pyongyang said it was "carefully examining" a plan to strike Guam, which is home to about 163,000 people, a submarine squadron, an airbase and a Coast Guard group.

A Korean People's Army spokesman said in a statement carried by state-run KCNA news agency the plan would be put into practice at any moment once leader Kim Jong-un makes a decision.

Earlier this morning, the US Air Force released a statement describing how two B-1B bombers flew a practice mission over the Korean Peninsula yesterday.

After taking off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, the B-1s assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, flew to Japanese airspace, where they were joined by Japanese F-2 fighter jets.

The B-1s then flew over the Korean Peninsula where they were joined by Republic of Korea Air Force KF-16 fighter jets.

They then performed a pass over the Pilsung Range before leaving South Korean airspace and returning to Guam.

The Air Force said: “Throughout the approximately 10-hour mission, the aircrews practiced intercept and formation training, enabling them to enhance their combined capabilities and tactical skills, while also strengthening the long standing military-to-military relationships in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.”

Guam Governor Eddie Calvo dismissed North Korea's threat and said the island was prepared for "any eventuality" with strategically placed defences.

He said he had been in touch with the White House and there was no change in the threat level.

"Guam is American soil... We are not just a military installation," Calvo said in an online video message.

North Korea also accused the United States of devising a "preventive war" and said in another statement that any plans to execute this would be met with an "all-out war wiping out all the strongholds of enemies, including the US mainland".

Washington has warned it is ready to use force if needed to stop North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programmes but that it prefers global diplomatic action, including sanctions.

The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday.

But Trump issued his strongest warning yet for North Korea in comments to reporters in New Jersey on Tuesday.

"North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," he said.

North Korea has made no secret of its plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the United States and has ignored calls to halt its weapons programmes.

Pyongyang says its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are a legitimate means of defence against perceived US hostility, including joint military drills with South Korea.

The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended without a peace treaty.

Seoul is home to roughly 10 million people and within range of massed North Korean rockets and artillery, which would be impossible to destroy in a first US strike.

Tens of thousands of US troops remain stationed in South Korea and in nearby Japan, the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons.

Wednesday marked the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki by the United States.

"Tension is mounting when it comes to the international situation surrounding nuclear weapons," Nagasaki mayor Tomihisa Taue told a ceremony marking the attack.

"Strong fears are spreading that nuclear weapons may be used in the not-so-distant future," he said.

A senior official at South Korea's presidential Blue House rejected talk of a crisis on the Korean peninsula, saying Seoul saw a high possibility of resolving the issue peacefully.

North Korea needed to realise that its repeated provocations are making the country more isolated and it should respond to the South's proposal for dialogue, the official said.

In Dandong, a Chinese trading hub across the border from North Korea, residents said they were unperturbed by the escalating rhetoric.

"North Korea always talks about war, war, war, but it never happens," said a restaurant owner who asked to be identified only by her surname, Yang.

"We now live in peaceful times. But if war does break out it will be us ordinary people that suffer," she said.

Tensions in the region have risen since North Korea carried out two nuclear bomb tests last year and two ICBM tests in July.

Madeleine Z. Bordallo, the US Congresswoman for Guam, said she was confident forces could protect it from the "deeply troubling" North Korean nuclear threat.

She called on Trump to show "steady leadership" and work with the international community to lower tensions.

Republican US Senator John McCain said Trump should tread cautiously when issuing threats to North Korea unless he is prepared to act.

"I take exception to the president's comments because you've got to be sure you can do what you say you're going to do," he said in a radio interview.

Former US diplomat Douglas Paal, now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank in Washington, said Trump should not get into a war of words with Pyongyang.

"It strikes me as an amateurish reflection of a belief that we should give as we get rhetorically," said Paal, who served as a White House official under previous Republican administrations.

"That might be satisfying at one level, but it takes us down into the mud that we should let Pyongyang enjoy alone." </s> SEOUL—The U.S. and South Korea conducted a joint drill involving U.S. B-1B bombers on Monday, the second such exercise this month and a move North Korea called “a grave military provocation,” after the North test-launched a short-range ballistic missile the same day.

The drill, which North Korea said took place over South Korea and near the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two Koreas, was confirmed by a spokesman for South... </s> Reuters quoted Moon Sang-gyun, a spokesman for the South Korean defense ministry, as saying that a joint drill with a US supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber took place on Monday, but declined to give further details.

On late-Monday, North Korea's state media earlier accused the US of staging a drill to practice dropping nuclear bombs on the Korean peninsula.
A formation of United States B-1B bombers from Guam flew over Korea, staging a nuclear bomb dropping drill. North Korea calls it a military provocation.