North Korea has condemned a joint maritime exercise between South Korea and the United States as a grave military provocation that drives the Korean Peninsula into the worst crisis.

The Rodong Sinmun, the North’s ruling Workers’ Party newspaper, said on Wednesday that continued military exercises by Seoul and Washington are aimed at completing their preparations for a preemptive attack against North Korea and provoke a war.

The paper said that there is a limit in the North's patience, adding that the U.S. mainland and all American bases in the Pacific are within the range of the North’s nuclear weapons.

The navies of South Korea and the U.S. are conducting a six-day joint exercise that will run through Saturday. The U.S. sent the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan to the exercise.