North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has hailed his troops as "invincible" as state media on Sunday warned of a possible military conflict with South Korea amid heightened tensions.

Kim expressed confidence in his soldiers' ability to "shatter any surprise invasion of the enemy at a single blow" as he inspected an army unit, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"The KPA (Korean People's Army)... has grown to be the

invincible revolutionary ranks all members of which devotedly defend the Party and the leader," it quoted Kim as saying, without giving a date for the visit.

The KCNA dispatch came days after North Korea scrapped all political and military agreements with the South, further raising tensions between the two sides, which technically remain at war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.

"To our nation in an armistice, confrontation means an escalated tension which could

lead to an inescapable and unavoidable military conflict and war," RodongSinmun.the North's ruling communist party paper, said Sunday.

Rodong then warned of the South's "destruction" if Seoul keeps ignoring warnings from the North.

Accusing the South of pushing relations to the brink of war, the North announced Friday that all political and military agreements would be nullified, including one covering their Yellow Sea border --the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002.