A military official stated that North Korea launched over 200 artillery shells near its maritime borders with South Korea. In the meantime, residents of two South Korean islands were instructed to evacuate.

The Ministry of Defense did not disclose the source of the directive, whether it was South Korean retaliatory actions or North Korean artillery fire.

A resident’s text message about “naval gunfire” scheduled for this Friday at 3:00 PM local time (06:00 GMT) was confirmed by an authority on one of the islands.

According to a “Yeonpyeong” Island official, the Seoul military requested the evacuation.

An official on “Yeonpyeong” Island stated that the Seoul military requested the evacuation.