On Wednesday, North Korea's military warned the South to halt "provocations in frontline areas," after they once again fired hundreds of artillery rounds at the naval buffer zones near their border in response to the ongoing field drills in South Korea.
The General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) said the North's troops opened "threatening and warning fire" again into the eastern and western waters in response to the firing by the "enemies" of over 10 shots from multiple rocket launchers near the border between around 8:27 am and 9:40 am in "another military provocation."
"Our Army strongly warns the enemy forces to immediately stop the highly irritating provocative act in the frontline areas," an unnamed spokesperson for the KPA General Staff said in the English-language statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that Pyongyang fired about 100 extra artillery shells into waters off its west coast on Wednesday, after firing more than 250 artillery rounds overnight.
The KPA official earlier highlighted that North Korea's move is aimed at countering a series of "military provocative acts by enemies," citing the ongoing Hoguk military exercises in the south.
South Korea's military on Monday kicked off its annual Hoguk drills to hone combat readiness against the North's nuclear and missile threats. The exercises are scheduled to continue until October 28.
The artillery fire in North Korea came despite speculation that Pyongyang might refrain from military provocations during the current 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China.
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