Artillery Shot After South Korean-United States Military Exercise, North Korea: Warning, Do Not ISSUE An Escalation Of Tensions

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

North Korea said it fired more than 130 artillery shells into the sea off its east and west coast on Monday after detecting military exercises in South Korea.

Several bullets landed in the buffer zone near the sea border which Seoul said was a violation of the 2018 inter-Korean agreement designed to reduce tensions.

The South Korean military sent several warning communications to North Korea over the shooting, the defense ministry said in a statement.

The North Korean military carried out the shooting after detecting dozens of "projectiles" fired in South Korea near the common border, state news agency KCNA reported, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

"The enemy must immediately stop military action that causes increased tensions in areas near the frontline, where visual surveillance is possible," an unnamed spokesman warned North Korea would respond decisively and with extraordinary military action against any provocation.

"We firmly warn the enemy not to cause unnecessary tension escalation along the front lines," the spokesman said.

Separately, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected artillery fire, which allegedly involved several rocket launchers, from the Kumgang region in Kangwon and Tanjung Jangsan provinces in South Hwanghae Province, starting at 14:59.

The bullets landed in the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea border, set under an inter-Korean military agreement signed on September 19, 2018, to ease border tensions.

JCS issued warnings to North Korea several times, indicating violations of military treaties and calling for an immediate cessation of provocations, the JCS said in a text message sent to journalists.

"The firing of artillery into the eastern and western maritime buffer zones is clearly a violation of the September 19 military deal and we strongly urge North Korea to stop it immediately," the JCS said, citing the Korea Times.

The 2018 Comprehensive Military Treaty (CMA) is the most substantive deal generated from a months-long meeting between leader Kim Jong-un and then South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

South Korea and the United States conducted joint ground shooting exercises near the border, Cheorwon Regency in the middle of the peninsula on Monday. Their exercise will resume on Tuesday.

The Allies have stepped up joint military exercises this year, saying it was necessary to prevent nuclear-armed North Korea, which has continued testing its long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles for the first time since 2017, and has made preparations to resume nuclear tests.

Meanwhile, North Korea criticized the joint exercise as evidence of Washington and Seoul's hostile policies.