'Death to America!': Tens of thousands of banner-waving North Koreans gather in Pyongyang for anti-US rally after Kim Jong-un exchanged threats with Donald Trump

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North Korea held a large anti-US rally in its capital city on Saturday, backing its leader Kim Jong Un as he exchanges insult-laden threats with President Donald Trump.

A huge crowd gathered in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, named for the current leader's grandfather and founder of North Korea, to rally against the US after Trump slammed North Korea's 'reckless behavior' last week.

Hours later, US bombers and escorts flew to the farthest point north of the border between North and South Korea by any such American aircraft this century in a show of military might, the Pentagon said.

During the rally, demonstrators in North Korea listened to speeches from senior officials excoriating the United States and its president.

North Koreans gather at Kim Il Sung Square to attend a mass rally against America on Saturday in Pyonyang, North Korea. Seen on the sign with the painting of a rocket in the center are Korean words which read 'defend until the death, single hearted unity' and below it in blue 'the American imperialists should see clearly the power of our country,' the sign in the foreground right reads 'please give us the order'

rth Koreans gather at Kim Il Sung Square to attend a mass rally against America on Saturday. The sign on the left foreground reads 'decisive punishment' while the sign on the right reads 'decisive revenge'

The crowd, including workers, officials and students, shouted phrases such as 'total destruction'

The parade of marchers carried signs with slogans such as 'decisive revenge' and 'death to the American imperialists'

Tens of thousands of Pyongyang residents gathered in the capital's Kim Il-Sung Square to laud leader Kim Jong-Un's denunciation of US President Donald Trump

A parade of marchers carried signs with slogans such as 'decisive revenge' and 'death to the American imperialists'.

The crowd, including workers, officials and students, shouted phrases such as 'total destruction', according to the Korean Central News Agency, the state news service.

Later on Saturday night, US bombers and escorts flew into international airspace near North Korea to show how seriously Trump takes North Korea's missile tests, the Pentagon said in a statement.

'This mission is a demonstration of US resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat,' the Defense Department spokesman Dana White said in a statement.

'North Korea's weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community,' it added. 'We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the US homeland and our allies.'

During the rally, demonstrators in North Korea listened to speeches from senior officials excoriating the United States and its president

Military troops stood in front of the massive crowd in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, named for the current leader's grandfather and founder of North Korea

A meeting of the youth and students at the Youth Park Open-Air Theatre during an anti-US rally in Pyongyang

Service members of the Ministry of People's Security gathered in formation as part of the rally on Saturday

members of the Ministry of People's Security gathered near a memorial in Pyongyang during the anti-US rally

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has said Trump would 'pay dearly' for threatening to 'totally destroy' North Korea if the US was forced to defend itself or its allies against a North Korean attack.

Kim's foreign minister told reporters this past week that the North's response to Trump 'could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific'.

North Korea has said it intends to build a missile capable of striking all parts of the United States with a nuclear bomb.

Trump has said he will not allow it, although the US so far has not used military force to impede the North's progress.

The Pentagon said B-1B bombers from Guam, along with F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday.

The US characterised the flights as extending farther north of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), than any US fighter or bomber had gone off the North Korean coast in the 21st century.

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has said Trump would 'pay dearly' for threatening to 'totally destroy' North Korea if the US was forced to defend itself or its allies against a North Korean attack

The mission in international airspace on Saturday was said to show how seriously President Donald Trump takes North Korea's 'reckless behavior'

B-1 bombers are no longer part of the US nuclear force, but they are capable of dropping large numbers of conventional bombs.

US Pacific Command would not be more specific about many years it had been since US bombers and fighters had flown that far north of the DMZ, but a spokesman, Navy Commander Dave Benham, noted that this century 'encompasses the period North Korea has been testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons'.

Saturday's events capped days of conflict between the United States and North Korea following Trump's combative speech at the United Nations earlier in the week.

The US president mocked Kim as a 'Rocket Man' on a 'suicide mission', and said that the United States 'will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea' if forced to defend itself or its allies.

He announced more economic sanctions against the impoverished and isolated country, targeting foreign companies that deal with the North.

'North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development is a grave threat to peace and security in our world and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime,' Trump said as he joined Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a meeting in New York.

According to the US Air Force, its B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam and US Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea. Pictured above, a US Air Force B-1B Lancer, assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron

A US Air Force B-1B Lancer, assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, receiving fuel from a US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker at an undisclosed location ahead of a mission east of North Korea

The aircraft flew to the farthest point north of the border between North and South Korea by any such American aircraft this century in a show of military might, the Pentagon said

B-1 bombers are no longer part of the US nuclear force, but they are capable of dropping large numbers of conventional bombs. US Pacific Command would not be more specific about many years it had been since US bombers and fighters had flown that far north of the DMZ

North Korea responded on Friday by distributing a rare statement directly from Kim.

He called Trump a 'mentally deranged US dotard', and said his country would consider the 'highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history'.

At the United Nations, North Korea's foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, said that his country's nuclear force is 'to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the US and for preventing its military invasion, and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the US'.

He also said that Trump's depiction of Kim as 'Rocket Man' makes 'our rocket's visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more'.

Trump on Friday had renewed his rhetorical offensive against Kim.

'Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!' the president tweeted.

Trump continued the heated exchange with the North Koreans on Saturday night.

He tweeted: 'Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!'