The North Korean army on Thursday threatened a possible strike against U.S. military bases in Japan, in response to the use of nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 bombers in joint military drills with South Korea.

The threat came a day after Pyongyang condemned the B-52 flights as an "unpardonable provocation" and threatened military action if they continue.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a live fire military drill using drones and cruise missile interceptors, state media said Wednesday, amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim had personally guided the exercise that involved training attacks by "super-precision drone planes.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his South Korean counterpart on Thursday that Beijing is willing to help "reconciliation" between Seoul and Pyongyang, the foreign ministry said.

"China is willing to provide the necessary assistance to advance South-North reconciliation and cooperation," he told President Park Geun-Hye in a phone call, according to a statement on the ministry website.

North Korea on Wednesday condemned training flights by nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 bombers over the Korean peninsula as an "unpardonable provocation" and threatened military action if they continue.

The Pentagon says at least one B-52 has flown over South Korea in recent weeks as part of joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises that Pyongyang has denounced as rehearsals for invasion.

North Korea has produced another video showing the United States under attack, this time with the White House and the U.S. Capitol literally in the crosshairs.

The four-minute video titled "Firestorms will rain on the Headquarters of War" (http://y2u.be/DyapeCiOl9A) was posted Monday on the YouTube channel of the North's official website, Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the state media.

Polka-dot dresses and manual threshing machines were among the hottest consumer products in North Korea last year, according to an annual list compiled by a research analyst in South Korea.

The arrival of the boldly-patterned dresses in the top 10 list was down to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's wife, Lee Sol-Ju, who was seen wearing them to public functions on state television.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday promised to provide South Korea with every military resource under the US nuclear umbrella at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea.

Carter was in Seoul on the second leg of a four-nation tour of U.S. allies and partners in Asia including Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Residents of a South Korean island closest to the tense sea border with North Korea have shrugged off a warning from Pyongyang urging them to flee ahead of "thunderous attacks", an official said Sunday.

The North's official website, Uriminzokkiri, told residents of five islands south of the border to leave, warning of "devastating consequences" if recent cross-border tension escalates into a full-scale conflict.

Millions of people remain dependent on external food aid in North Korea where nearly 28 percent of children under five are stunted from malnutrition, a U.N. official has said.

Desiree Jongsma, U.N. resident coordinator in North Korea, said two thirds of its 24 million population were chronically food insecure although timely imports had contributed to avoiding a crisis this year.

North Korea's military fired short-range missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Friday, Yonhap reported, at a time of heightened tensions following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test.

A single unit of the North's military test-fired the missiles presumed to be KN-02, estimated to have a range of about 120 kilometers (74 miles), the report said.