A TV screen shows a file image of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's military exercise during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, Jan 7, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

SEOUL - A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) accused the Republic of Korea (ROK)’s military of misjudging its military moves on Sunday.

The ROK claimed that the DPRK conducted artillery shelling northwest of Yeonpyeong Island Saturday afternoon, and the shells dropped in the sea buffer zone north of the so-called "Northern Limit Line (NLL)" in the western waters off the Korean Peninsula.

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Kim Yo-jong, vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said the DPRK detonated blasting powder simulating the sound of artillery fire, a move designed to observe the reactions of the ROK’s military. Kim's statement was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Military units in charge of the southwest coastal defense mobilized 23 coastal artilleries and fired 88 live shots toward four areas in the southwest waters, said KCNA in a statement by the General Staff of the Korean People's Army

Calling the reactions by the ROK "falling clearly in line with the DPRK's expectations," Kim said that the ROK misjudged the blasting sound as that of gunfire and a provocation, accusing the ROK of falsely claiming that the shells dropped in the sea buffer zone north of the NLL in the western waters, the KCNA report said.

READ MORE: DPRK, ROK conduct live-fire drills along sea boundary

Kim warned that "the DPRK forces will launch an immediate military strike if the enemy makes even a slight provocation," it added.

The ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff dismissed Kim's statement mocking the detection capabilities of its military as "low-grade" and "psychological warfare," according to a report by Yonhap news agency on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the DPRK’s military units on Sunday conducted a live-shell firing drill off its western coast, the KCNA reported.

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Military units in charge of the southwest coastal defense mobilized 23 coastal artilleries and fired 88 live shots toward four areas in the southwest waters, said KCNA in a statement by the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

The district for the naval live-shell firing drill was not related to the Military Demarcation Line in terms of (firing) direction and posed no intentional threat to the ROK, the statement said.

It added that the drill was conducted according to a plan within the Korean People's Army's regular training system.

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The two countries have long been bickering over the maritime boundary in the western waters off the peninsula. The ROK has set the sea border by designating the NLL, which the DPRK has never officially recognized.