The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Monday that it "was not worth reacting" to South Korea's artillery drill on a disputed island off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, state media reported.

"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation like one taking revenge after facing a blow," the official KCNA news agency quoted a statement from the DPRK's Army Supreme Command as saying.

"Their military provocation was a product of their cunning scenario to deliberately lead the military counteraction of the DPRK to driving the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a war and thus save the U.S. Asia policy and strategy toward the DPRK from bankruptcy," the statement said.

The drill was also aimed at saving the face of the present South Korean authorities in a ruling crisis, said the statement.

This was "nothing but a childish play" without an opponent, it added.

Earlier in the day, South Korea staged a live-fire artillery drill on Yeonpyeong Island shelled last month by the DPRK despite the latter's repeated warnings of a counterattack. The island is part of a group of South Korea-held islets located in waters claimed by the DPRK.

Pyongyang has never recognized a disputed maritime border near Yeonpyeong, unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations military forces at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two sides have had fatal naval skirmishes near the sea border.?

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