North Korea has again denied that it fired artillery shells from Yongmae Island toward the Northern Limit Line (NLL) last Wednesday.

The Rodong Sinmun, a daily for the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said on its Web site on Monday that South Korea fired shots toward the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas after mistaking detonation work at tidal flats in Yongmae Island for artillery fire.

The paper included a photograph of the detonation work in Yongmae Island, claiming that a dozen holes were made last Wednesday to gather minerals. The report also included interviews from four laborers.

The daily also claimed that the North’s military authorities presented the South with a timetable for planned detonation projects last December.