At about 14:20 that day, they staged an underwater explosion exercise three times close to the waters of the north side southeast of Kuwol Hill, Kangryong County, South Hwanghae Province.

The exercise conducted under the very nose of the north is a threat to it and an unpardonable criminal act against it.

The DPRK considers this as not a simple explosion exercise but cannot but interpret it otherwise than a premeditated provocation aimed to strain the situation in the militarily sensitive waters of the West Sea.

The puppet war maniacs, far from drawing a lesson from the last armed conflict in the West Sea, are blustering that they would not rule out a "conflict", claiming that the puppet army would "preserve the northern limit line", an illegal one, and cope with a "renewed provocation" of someone, and deliberately provoking the DPRK, while reinforcing the group of warships in the West Sea.

The DPRK will deal a merciless retaliatory blow at the bellicose forces of the south Korean puppet army in case they persist in the military provocations in the West Sea while insisting on "preserving the northern limit line".