North Korea has said that it conducted live-fire drills on Sunday that did not pose a threat to South Korea.

In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sunday, the General Staff Department of the Korean People’s Army(KPA) said that the North conducted the training in four areas in the eastern direction parallel to the Military Demarcation Line in the sea.

The General Staff said 23 coastal artillery launchers were mobilized to fire 88 shells.

The KPA reportedly said that the direction of the firing area is not related to the Military Demarcation Line and did not pose an international threat to another country.

The General Staff also claimed that a deception operation was conducted on Saturday with the detonation of explosives simulating the sound of artillery.

The claim concurs with that by Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of regime leader Kim Jong-un, who said on Sunday that North Korea detonated explosive powder simulating the sound of its coastal artillery in a test of the South Korean military’s detection abilities.

[Photo : YONHAP News]