North Korea says it has entered a “state of war” with South Korea, highlighting that Pyongyang will deal with every inter-Korean issue accordingly.

North Korea said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Saturday that “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 statement, which is issued jointly by the East Asian country’s government, ruling party, and other organizations, came amid escalating tension in the Korean peninsula.

    The statement further warned that any military provocation near the North-South land or sea border would lead “in a full-scale conflict and a nuclear war.”

Earlier in the day Russia and China called on all sides to cooperate in order to prevent the situation from getting worse.

“We can simply see the situation getting out of control, it would spiral down into a vicious circle,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered rocket units to be on standby, saying that his country’s forces should “mercilessly strike the US mainland..., military bases in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea.”

Kim’s order came after the United States on Thursday flew two nuclear-capable B2 stealth bombers over South Korea to conduct “deterrence” mission.

The two bombers flew out of Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri, dropped dummy ordnance on targets in South Korea, and completed the 13,000-mile round trip in a "single continuous mission," according to a press release by the US military.

Kim argued that the stealth bomber flights went beyond a simple demonstration of force and amounted to a US “ultimatum that they will ignite a nuclear war at any cost.”

North Korea had already put its strategic units at combat-ready status on March 26 for possible strikes against the US.