The emergency evacuation order was issued at 12:02 p.m. local time (03:02 GMT) and repeated at 12:30 p.m. local time (03:30 GMT) on Friday at the request of the South Korean military, the report cited the local county office as saying.
"We announced the evacuation after receiving a call from a military unit saying it was carrying out a maritime strike on Yeongpyeong Island as it has a situation with a North Korean provocation," the official was quoted as saying.
Earlier it was reported that the North Korean military fired 200 artillery shells into its own territorial waters near South Korean islands of Baengnyongdo and Yeonpyeong.
No civilians or South Korean military personnel were reportedly injured, and the shells fell north of the de facto maritime border.
The shelling came in the wake of reports that the US and South Korean militaries were conducting "decapitation drills" - in other words, training to assassinate North Korean leaders, including Kim Jong Un himself.