A government source says North Korea has sent a message to South Korea to complain about Tuesday's clash between the two Koreas' naval vessels in the Yellow Sea.

The exact entity of the North Korean sender, the South Korean receiver and other details were not immediately available.

However, another government official said the message didn't come through the truce village of Panmunjeom. 

Sources have suggested that the North Korea could have again sent the message under the name of the North's National Defense Commission to the national security office of South Korea's presidential office.

When asked about the North's message during the parliamentary audit on the Ministry of National Defense Wednesday, Minister Han Min-koo declined to comment on the issue, saying the matter isn't relevant to the defense ministry.

On Tuesday morning, South and North Korean patrol ships briefly exchanged fire near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea after a North Korean patrol boat violated the Northern Limit Line, the de facto border in the Yellow Sea.