Political parties have unanimously denounced North Korea’s firing of coastal artillery shells near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), calling it a “military provocation.”

The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) urged North Korea to immediately stop provocation, saying raising tension does not help the isolated communist state at all.

The main opposition Democratic Party said military action when inter-Korean exchanges and collaboration were about to resume does no service towards peace on the Korean peninsula. He added that the two Koreas must stay calm, especially in times like this.

Minor opposition group, the Liberty Forward Party, said the gunfire was an intolerable provocation, expressing regret at what it called "the North's struggles to become an axis of evil again."