The ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun accused Washington in a commentary of planning a preemptive nuclear strike against North Korea.

"The US war-thirsty forces' moves to mount a preemptive nuclear attack are assuming an increasing danger," it said.

In a separate commentary, the government Minju Joson newspaper accused Washington of adopting a "contradictory" nuclear policy.

"The US is handling the nuclear issue in a way to meet its own strategic interests only," it said, adding the US had made the issue "more complicated" by allowing Israel to possess atomic weapons.

The two countries remain locked in a tense standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

However, on Thursday the hardline communist state dropped its customary criticism, in a New Year message analysts said indirectly expressed hopes of friendly relations with the incoming US administration.

Disarmament talks involving the United States, the two Koreas, China, Russia and Japan collapsed last month after failing to reach agreement on how to determine if the secretive nation had told the truth about its atomic programmes.

The failure immediately led Washington to declare it would "have to rethink" its strategy towards the communist country.