North Korea has warned that the United States will “add fuel to fire” on the situation on the Korean Peninsula by conducting an annual military exercise with South Korea.

The North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday said in an editorial that the United States is driving the situation to an "uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war" by pushing ahead with a nuclear war rehearsal against North Korea, while calling for a preemptive strike or preventive war against Pyongyang.

The warning came on the eve of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, an annual military exercise between Seoul and Washington.