This handout photo taken on Jan 5, 2024, and provided by the Republic of Korea’s Defense Ministry shows the ROK’s K1E1 tank firing during a live-fire exercise at a base on western Baengnyeong island. (HANDOUT / SOUTH KOREAN DEFENCE MINISTRY / AFP)

SEOUL – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s military staged a naval live-shell firing drill off the country’s southwestern coast on Friday in response to provocations by the Republic of Korea, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The drill was conducted from 09:00 am to 11:00 am (0000 GMT to 0200 GMT), KCNA reported quoting the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

Meanwhile, evacuation orders were reportedly issued in the western ROK border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong at the request of the ROK military.

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The orders were issued at 12:02 am local time (0302 GMT) and 12:30 am each to evacuate residents from the island.

The Republic of Korea’s marines leave the Incheon Coastal Passenger Terminal in Incheon on Jan 5, 2024, after a passenger ferry to Baengnyeong island was canceled due to a live-fire exercise by the DPRK. (YONHAP VIA AFP)

Later in the afternoon, the ROK military conducted a live-fire exercise off its western coast, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

The marine forces in Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands launched the drill at 3:00 pm local time (0600 GMT), the ministry added.

In this undated photo provided on Jan 5, 2024, by the DPRK government, DPRK leader Kim Jong-un (center) with his daughter visits a factory that produces strategic missile launching vehicles. (KCNA /KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP)

Kim inspects factory

The DPRK leader, Kim Jong-un, meanwhile, inspected a major factory that produces strategic missile launching vehicles, KCNA reported on Friday.

Kim, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, inspected the factory's production of large strategic missile launching vehicles and other military vehicles, the report said without specifying the exact date of the inspection tour.

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The DPRK leader stressed the factory's important position and role in bolstering the nation's defense capabilities, citing the prevailing grave situation in the Korean Peninsula, according to the KCNA report.

During the inspection, Kim underscored the importance of producing various launching vehicles for tactical and strategic weapons in bolstering the country's nuclear war deterrent and specified the factory's immediate, long-term production plan to expand production capacity, it added.