The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Saturday that it had entered a "state of war" with South Korea, the official KCNA news agency reported.

All matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime condition, the DPRK said in a statement.

The long-standing condition of the Korean peninsula of being neither peace nor war is finally over, said the statement carried by KCNA.

The statement, issued jointly by the DPRK government, party and other organizations, warned that any military provocation near the land or sea border of the two sides would result "in a full-scale conflict and a nuclear war".