Pyongyang, North Korea - 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 Choe Ju Hyon, identified as an international security analyst, who 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.

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In the face of growing tensions with North Korea, the US and its ally South Korea have been stepping up their military drills in the region.

According to the South Korean Defense 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.

US naval forces also held joint anti-submarine warfare exercises with South Korea and Japan earlier this week.