The North's People's Army joined the saber-rattling campaign, vowing to launch "retaliatory military actions" against South Korea because its reserve forces used photos of North Korean leaders for target practice.
The North has also mobilized media organizations, social organizations, factories, farms and schools for the campaigns, saying all North Koreans are ready to destroy the South.
Pyongyang also disclosed a secret meeting with the South in Beijing last month in which it claimed the South "begged" for inter-Korean summit talks and "disgraced" North Koreans by offering money.
The charge embarrassed President Lee Myung-Bak who had cautiously sought to break the long impasse in inter-Korean ties.
The surprising disclosure has effectively closed the window of opportunity for inter-Korean summit and governmental dialogue before conservative Lee leaves office in early 2013.
Government sources said the saber-rattling targeted China that does not want to see tensions on the Korean peninsula to rise further.
"By doing this, the North wants to send a message to China that Pyongyang could drive the Korean peninsula into security crisis unless Beijing addresses the North's discontent about Kim Jong-Il's visit to China," a source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
"The North has a history of worsening ties with the South as leverage in dealing with China and the United States," he said.
Cho Min, a researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said the North has been employing a "war-business" strategy, forging war-like mood on the Korean peninsula in a bid to win diplomatic and economic concessions.