The enraged North Korea has accused the US of exacerbating tensions in the Korean peninsula after Washington flew two B-1B bombers over South Korea. Pyongyang said the flight has pushed the region to a "point of explosion hour by hour".

On Tuesday (13 September), Washington had flown two nuclear-capable B-1B Lancers as a muscle-flexing act against the North after the reclusive nation carried out its fifth nuclear test. The strategic bombers flew over Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, flanked by South Korean fighters.

In a sharp response to the US's military act,the Kim Jong-un regime said it is yet another opportunity for Washington to rehearse a fully-fledged attack on the North.

"These extremely reckless provocations of the US imperialist warmongers are pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the point of explosion hour by hour," said North Korea's state-run mouthpiece, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The report has also heaped scorn on US's plans to deploy the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in South Korea.

"These extremely reckless provocations of the US imperialist warmongers are pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the point of explosion hour by hour. The Korean People's Army, possessed of all means for military counteraction to beat back any aggression and provocation at a single blow, is sharply watching the reckless military moves of the US imperialists," the KCNA dispatch read. The stark warning concluded with: "They had better stop their rash actions."

The Korean peninsula has remained volatile for the past few months and the situation worsened after Pyongyang's nuclear test on 9 September, which was in violation of UN regulations.

The divided Koreas technically remain at war with each other as the 1950-53 Korean War did not end in a peace treaty, but only an armistice. Though the rival nations have always remained at loggerheads, tensions have sharply escalated in recent times keeping the region politically unstable.