North Korea has confirmed that it fired artillery shells toward the east and west of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, describing the action as a countermeasure to South Korea's ongoing military drills.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier said the North fired about 100 artillery shells toward the Yellow Sea, west of the peninsula, from the southwestern province of South Hwanghae, starting at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

They also said the North shot about 150 rounds to the east from the southeastern province of Kangwon starting at around 11 p.m.

The two countries agreed in 2018 not to fire artillery into maritime buffer zones, which serve as a de facto inter-Korean maritime border. South Korea said the rounds fired by the North fell into waters on the North Korean side.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army issued a statement that was carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday.

It called South Korea's field training as "enemies' repeated military provocation." The regular field maneuvers began on Monday, and involve some US troops.

The statement said North Korea's army units conducted a threatening, warning fire "as a powerful military countermeasure."

The North conducted similar shelling last Friday, saying the action was aimed at sending another clear message against provocations by what it called "the enemies."

The South Korean military strongly urged Pyongyang to immediately halt the shelling, saying in a statement that "North Korea's continued provocations are actions that undermine the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community."