North Korea has issued a warning that the U.S. B-52 strategic bomber that recently landed in South Korea is a target for elimination.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) said on Friday that the U.S. must be well aware that the Korean Peninsula is legally in a state of war and strategic assets sent from the enemy’s sides will naturally become “the first targets of destruction.”

The KCNA strongly criticized the top military commanders of the U.S. and South Korea for threatening a preemptive strike against North Korea in front of the bomber at an air base in Cheongju on Thursday, denouncing it as an intentional move by the U.S. to provoke a nuclear war.

The report said that North Korea considers the move a grave military act against the country and is closely watching related movements.

The KCNA went on to say that the era of the U.S. monopoly on the right to preemptively strike has ended, and the threat by Washington and Seoul to provoke a nuclear war against Pyongyang will be met with a corresponding move.

The report then issued a reminder that the North recently amended its constitution to bolster and expand its nuclear force after passing a new law enshrining the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect itself.

[Photo : YONHAP News]