The presidential office said on Monday that North Korea's continued provocations will only deepen its isolation and worsen the lives of North Korean citizens. 

The top office issued the position after South and North Korea exchanged warning shots early Monday morning along their disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea.

The government is closely watching the related situation with close coordination with the United States, maintaining readiness posture, a presidential official said in a press briefing.

The official added that the North's repeated provocations and false accusations against the South impair peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as the world. 

According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, its Navy fired 20 warning shots as a merchant vessel from North Korea did not leave South Korea's maritime territory after violating the Northern Limit Line, or NLL, despite repeated warnings.

The General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army(KPA), however, claimed that a South Korean warship first crossed its maritime border, and that its coastal defense units fired ten rounds of artillery warning shots toward its waters.