250 Artillery Bullets Fire On West And East Coasts, North Korean Army: Serious Warning, Enemy Must Stop Provocations

North Korean artillery illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Stefan Krasowski)

JAKARTA - North Korea fired hundreds of artillery fire off its east and west coasts late Tuesday, with the country's military calling it a serious warning and calling for a halt to the provocations.

South Korea's military said North Korea fired artillery shells off its east and west coasts, after Seoul began annual defense drills aimed at improving its ability to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

North Korea fired about 100 shells into the sea off its west coast at around 10 p.m. local time. It then fired another 150 rounds off its east coast, the Southern Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, North Korea said the fire was designed to send a serious warning to South Korea, in response to the firing of dozens of artillery shells on Tuesday between 09:55 and 17:22 local time.

"To send a serious warning once again, it confirms that units of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) on the eastern and western fronts, carried out threatening warning shots towards the eastern and western seas on the night of October 18, as a strong military countermeasure," he said in a statement released by state media KCNA.

"The enemy must immediately stop the reckless and inciting provocations that increase military tensions in the frontier areas," the statement said.

The annual defense drills, which will conclude on Saturday, are the latest in a series of military exercises by South Korea in recent weeks, including joint activities with the United States and Japan.