South Korea has asked the residents living on the island of Yeonpyeong to evacuate after North Korea live-fired over 200 live rounds toward the Korean Islands. This “provocation” follows repeated warnings from that it is prepared for war against South Korea and its United States ally.

Authorities on Baengnyeong Island also reported an evacuation order there.

The reports of North Korea’s “provocation” came soon after joint US-South Korea live-fire military drills near the border, which the North condemned as “reckless war maneuvers.” Involving a South Korean Army mechanized infantry brigade and the US Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the drills began on December 29th in the border city of Pocheon, some 46km (28.5 miles) northeast of Seoul.

The evacuation order was issued twice on Friday afternoon by local authorities, Yonhap News reported, noting that it came amid “apparent signs of a military provocation by North Korea.”

“We announced the evacuation after receiving a call from a military unit saying it was carrying out a maritime strike on Yeongpyeong Island as it has a situation with a North Korean provocation,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un accused the United States of posing “various forms of military threat” and ordered his armed forces to maintain the “overwhelming war response capability”, according to KCNA’s account of the meeting that ended on Saturday.

According to a report by RT, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said later that North Korea launched around 200 artillery shells off its west coast on Friday morning. The projectiles landed in a maritime buffer zone established under a 2018 deal between the countries, though Pyongyang has since withdrawn from the agreement.

“We gravely warn that the entire responsibility of such crisis-escalating situations lies with North Korea and strongly urge for its immediate halt,” JCS spokesperson Colonel Lee Sung-jun said.