ANKARA 

North Korea on Tuesday ordered its forces to fire artillery shells into the sea in response to live-fire drills between South Korea and the US near the inter-Korean border, state-run media said.

In a statement, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army accused the South Korean and US forces of firing multiple launch rocket systems and howitzer in the area adjacent to the front again on Tuesday morning.

“The General Staff of the Korean People's Army gave an alarm of combat readiness for emergency and an urgent instruction on strengthening the watch of the enemy situation to units at all levels including the front artillery units of the People's Army, and an order to the front artillery units concerned on firing live shells to the sea for the purpose of warning for immediate and powerful counteraction,” Korean Central News Agency quoted the unnamed spokesman as saying.

Pyongyang also warned South Korea and the US to immediately stop their "provocative military action" in the area adjacent to the front.

On Monday, North Korea also fired 130 artillery shells into eastern and western maritime "buffer zones" to protest the allies' live-fire exercise in Cheorwon County, northeast of Seoul, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Tensions on the peninsula rose in 2020 when North Korea attacked and blew up the inter-Korean liaison office along the border. Seoul has threatened a strong response if Pyongyang "further worsens the situation."

However, tensions have soared further recently after Seoul and Washington held joint military drills.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid