The military of North Korea and South Korea exchanged warning shots off the west coast.

The shots happened on Monday, October 24, according to Ukrinform news agency that referenced to Reuters.

The parties accused each other of violating the maritime border.

It is reported that South Korea opened warning fire due to the crossing of the maritime border between the countries by a ship from North Korea.

In response, the North Korean military fired with multiple rocket launchers.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said country’s militaries broadcast warnings and fired warning shots to see off a North Korean merchant vessel that crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

This demarcation line is actually the maritime border in the Yellow Sea between South and North Korea.

Instead, North Korea’s military said it fired 10 rocket artillery rounds after a South Korean navy ship violated its sea border and fired warning shots “to track an unidentified vessel,” state media reported.

“The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army ordered 10 rounds of rocket launchers to be fired to strongly expel the enemy warship,” a North Korean official said in a statement, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Seoul said its military conducted a “normal operation” regarding the border violation and called North Korea’s actions a provocation and a violation of bilateral agreements from 2018 that prohibit “hostile actions” in border areas.

In recent weeks, North Korea launched short-range ballistic missiles and hundreds of artillery rounds off its east and west coasts on several occasions in protest over the South Korea’s military activities and its joint military exercises with the United States.

Large-scale exercises of the air force took place in North Korea. On October 8, more than a hundred military planes took off at the same time.