"The Korean Armistice Agreement is to be scrapped completely just from today," said a spokesman for the North Korean military -- the Korean People's Army Supreme Command -- according to Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party.
North Korea cited the U.N. Security Council's unanimous passage Thursday of tougher sanctions against Pyongyang for carrying out missile and nuclear tests.
North Korea declares 1953 armistice invalid North Korea has new weapons program What to make of N. Korea's newest threat Korean War remembered
"The collective sanction is precisely a declaration of war and an act of war against the DPRK," said the newspaper, using the initials of North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
U.S.-South Korean drills
North Korea's announcement came as military drills involving South Korea and the United States were taking place. The exercises, called Key Resolve, are in conjunction with the Foal Eagle joint exercises that began March 1 and are scheduled to last two months. More than 3,000 U.S. forces are taking part in Key Resolve, according to U.S. Forces Korea.
North Korea also has called the annual training exercises "an open declaration of a war."
"Under the cloak of the UNSC, the U.S. seeks to realize its aggressive purpose against the DPRK by threatening its right to existence as well as its sovereignty," the newspaper continued. "What is graver is the fact that the U.S. cooked up the resolution on sanction timing to coincide with the 'Key Resolve' and 'Foal Eagle' joint military exercises."
The U.N. Command notified the North Korean military on February 21 of the exercise dates, noting they are annual joint exercises defensive in nature and not related to current events on the Korean Peninsula.
In his inauguration speech on Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called the security situation "very grave," South Korea's government-backed Yonhap News Agency reported.
"The security situation on the Korean Peninsula for now is very grave as the unpredictability surrounding