Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- After days of concern about possible North Korean aggression over a South Korean military drill, the live-fire naval exercise ended peacefully after an hour and 34 minutes with no immediate retaliation.
North Korea said over the weekend that the drill could ignite a war and that it would respond militarily to the exercise. On Monday, North Korean military leaders said retaliation wasn't necessary -- but issued a stern warning to South Korea and the United States, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The North also agreed to a series of actions after former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson urged the country not to respond aggressively.
Richardson told CNN Monday he was encouraged by the North Koreans' restraint, saying he and others emphasized to the nation's leaders that failing to act would cast them in a positive light.
"Maybe we had a little impact with them," he said. He said he hoped it was a step toward opening a new chapter in relations between the two countries.
Asked whether North Korea could be waiting for its southern neighbor to drop its guard before retaliating, Richardson acknowledged that is possible, but said he thinks the fact that Pyongyang "took responsible action" shows they are moving into a new chapter.
"I think they deserve credit for holding back," he said. "...I think North Korea may be sending a signal that they're ready to re-engage after having behaved very negatively."
The South Korean military remained on high alert after the drill ended and is observing the North carefully, the country's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. During the drill, fighter jets took to the sky in preparation for possible retaliation by North Korea, the South Korean defense ministry said.
And in the United States, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came into the Pentagon Sunday night to monitor the drill directly, two Pentagon officials said. His presence was a signal of how concerned the U.S. military was about possible escalation on the Korean peninsula.
The United States maintained a contingency communications plan throughout the night, so the U.S. and South Korean military were in constant contact, the officials said. The United States had satellites and other reconnaissance assets overhead watching for North Korean troop or weapons movements, but did not deploy aircraft carriers or fighter jets, the officials said. The U.S. military wanted to keep as low a profile as possible so as not to send any mistaken signals to Pyongyang.
The South Korean president's office, meanwhile, defended the drill, saying, "In a divided country that is militarily pitted against each other, it is natural that as a sovereign country, we will conduct military exercises and defend our territory."
The military exercise took place in waters just south of Yeonpyeong Island, where a North Korean shelling on November 23 killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.
The North has accused the South of provoking the attack because shells from a South Korean military drill landed in the North's waters.
"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation like one taking revenge after facing a blow," KCNA reported North Korean military officials as saying Monday. "The second and third powerful retaliatory strike to be made by the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK knowing no limit as declared before the world will lead to blowing up the bases of the U.S. and south Korean puppet warmongers."
North Korean military officials also said the United States and South Korea perpetuated military provocation, "far from drawing a lesson from the disgraceful defeat they suffered" from the last Yeonpyeong shelling, according to KCNA.
About 8,000 residents were ordered to take cover in Yeonpyeong, Baengnyeong, Daecheong, Socheong and Udo in the hours leading up to the drill.
But after the drill ended Monday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the emergency order for civilians on five islands to "take cover" had been lifted.
South Korea has not said whether any additional naval drills are imminent.
In South Korea, "this was an extraordinarily tense day," said CNN's Kyung Lah. "You had civilians hiding in bunkers."
The United Nations Security Council wrangled for nearly eight hours Sunday over growing tensions in the Korean peninsula before ending its emergency meeting without a unified statement.
North Korea said over the weekend that the planned exercises were designed to violate the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953 and "ignite war at any cost."
Saying the exercises would be in "the inviolable territorial waters" of North Korea, KCNA warned Saturday that its forces would "deal the second and third unpredictable self-defensive blow" if the drill proceeds.
But Richardson, who is wrapping up a five-day unofficial trip to North Korea, urged them not to exercise aggression in meetings with high-level officials, according to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who is traveling with him.
In the meetings, North Korea agreed to a series of actions, including the return of U.N. inspectors and to consider Richardson's proposal for a military commission between the United States, North Korea and South Korea.
Meanwhile, China asked the two Koreas to exercise "maximum restraint," state media reported Monday.
China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Wang Min made the statement during the Security Council meeting. His comments were reported by China's state-run Xinhua news agency Monday.
Wang also reiterated China's previous call for both sides to return to the negotiating table.
China is the isolated North's sole major ally and provides it with a crucial fuel and food lifeline.
CNN's Kyung Lah and Jiyeon Lee in Seoul; Richard Roth and Whitney Hurst at the United Nations; and Barbara Starr in Washington contributed to this report.
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