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North Korea has deployed more than 10 missiles on its west coast for what appears to be an imminent launch, a South Korean newspaper said today, two days after the North fired two short-range missiles into the Yellow Sea.

It would be an unprecedented test if the North fired all of the surface-to-ship and ship-to-ship missiles, but intelligence sources quoted by the Chusun Ilbopaper said they thought the North may launch five to seven of them.

The North has forbidden ships to sail in an area in the Yellow Sea until October 15th in preparation for the launch, an intelligence source told the paper.

The North fired two short-range missiles on Tuesday as part of routine military drills, South Korea's defence minister said yesterday.

The launches come after a senior US nuclear envoy visited the North Korean capital last week in a bid to convince the state to return to a disarmament-for-aid deal and halt plans to restart an aging nuclear plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium.

But a US military commander played down any escalation of the threat posed by the North, which is reported to have conducted tests at a new missile launch pad in recent weeks.

"We have seen no increased movement or military activity in North Korea, nor have we responded in any way with any military posture changes," Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of US forces in the Pacific, told reporters in Tokyo today.

The US military is keeping the area under close observation, he said. He declined to comment on the missile reports.