North Korea enters 'state of war' against South Korea

North Korea announced early on Saturday morning that it was entering a “state of war” against South Korea, hours after Kim Jong-un said he would “settle accounts” with Washington for threatening him with nuclear-capable stealth bombers.

“As of now, inter-Korea relations enter a state of war and all matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime protocol,” the North said in a joint statement attributed to all government bodies and institutions.

“The long-standing situation of the Korean peninsula being neither at peace nor at war is finally over,” said the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The two Koreas have technically remained at war because the 1950-53 Korean War concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

The North had announced earlier this month that it was ripping up the armistice and other bilateral peace pacts signed with Seoul in protest against South Korea-US joint military exercises.