North Korea fires 200 artillery shells along sea border with South, evacuation announced

North Korea fired some 200 artillery shells into waters off its western coast Friday morning, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The said it detected the artillery firings from Jangsan Cape, north of South Korea's northernmost island of Baengnyeong, and Deungsan Cape, north of the South's western border island of Yeonpyeong, from 9:00 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The shells splashed into the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border. The buffer zone was set under an inter-Korean military accord signed on September 19, 2018, to reduce border tensions.

The North unilaterally scrapped the accord last November after Seoul partially suspended the deal in protest of the North's successful launch of a military spy satellite.

South Korea has ordered civilians on the western border island of Yeonpyeong Island to evacuate to shelters, officials said Friday, amid apparent signs of a military provocation by North Korea.

There were no reports of damage from the shelling.