North Korea has blamed the U.S. and South Korea for its recent artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea.

The North's delegation at the truce village of Panmunjeom made the remarks Thursday in a statement, saying that the U.S. drew the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea at the end of the Korean War, which has made the region a conflict zone.

Rejecting the U.N. Command's proposal of a general-level meeting, the delegation said that the South should not conduct artillery drills near the maritime border if it wants to ease tension in the region.
The delegation claimed that Seoul violated the Korean War Armistice by entering North Korean territorial waters prior to the attack on Yeonpyeong.

The North also claimed that the South's drill on Tuesday was a premeditated act of war and that the North's artillery attack was a self-defense measure.

The delegation added that the North’s military will deal without hesitation a second and third strong physical retaliatory blow if it is provoked by South Korea.