North Korea said on Sunday that South Korea is violating North Korean waters while searching for the body of its citizen killed in the region, calling for an immediate halt to the intrusion.

The North's state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said North Korea urges the south side to immediately halt the intrusion across the military demarcation line in the west sea because it may lead to an escalation of tensions.

The North then issued a grave warning that it will never overlook any intrusion of its territorial waters.

The report also said that North Korean authorities were considering ways and procedures to hand over the body to the South if it is found by North Korea's massive search operation.

The KCNA said South Korea, however, mobilized many vessels including warships for an alleged search operation and intruded into North Korean waters since Friday, prompting the North's due vigilance.

South Korea has been searching for the body of the 47-year-old fisheries official shot and killed by North Korean soldiers earlier last week after he drifted into their waters near the Yellow Sea border between the two sides.