On the morning of 23 November, North Korea said that it complained to the South, "asking whether (the [Hoguk] exercise) was an attack against the North". It said that it would not allow firing in what the North thought was its part of the sea. South Korean forces practiced firing in waters near Baengnyeong Island and Yeonpyeong Island in South Korean waters. According to a South Korean military official, the shells were fired towards waters in the south, away from North Korea. The firing was not part of the Hoguk exercise. It was a practice they did every month.