SEOUL - South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) exchanged fires in an area near the military demarcation line, Yonhap News Agency and YTN reported citing the South Korean military.

The DPRK forces fired 14.5-mm guns, which has a capacity to penetrate armored vehicles, for 20 minutes from 3:55 p.m. local time near the western civilian control area in Yeoncheon County in Gyeonggi Province.

It came after a South Korean civic organization, mainly made up of "defectors" from the DPRK, spread anti-DPRK leaflets through balloon into DPRK's territory at about 2 p.m.

In response, the South Korean military fired some 40 rounds of 12.7-mm K-6 machine gun. No damage has been reported yet for the South Korean side.

The DPRK fired live ammunitions toward the leaflets that were crossing the inter-Korean border into its territory.

Some ammunition landed in the civilian area in Yeoncheon. People in the county were evacuated to a nearby shelter.