North Korea warned of an “all-out military strike” to destroy South Korean loudspeakers and other propaganda tools along their fortified border, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

South Korea’s preparation for psychological warfare, is a “direct declaration of a war” against the North, the general staff of the communist state’s military said today in a statement on KCNA. The North’s military retaliation may turn Seoul into “a sea of flame,” the statement said.

The South has already installed loudspeakers in 11 places along the border and is attempting to set up electronic displays, according to the statement.

South Korea hasn’t detected any abnormal activities near the border area with the North, Yonhap News said following the KCNA report today, citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Tensions have risen on the Korean peninsula since an international panel concluded on May 20 that the North was behind a torpedo attack that sank the Cheonan warship, killing 46 of the South’s sailors. South Korea’s president Lee Myung Bak has taken the case to the United Nations Security Council, backed by the U.S. and Japan, to seek a resolution condemning North Korea.

The North says the allegations are fabricated and has threatened to retaliate over any punitive action taken against it.

South Korea will resume anti-North broadcasts across the border after the United Nations Security Council makes a determination about the sinking, Yonhap News reported yesterday, citing South Korea’s defense minister.

(Source: Bloomberg)