SEOUL: North Korea appears to be gearing up for a major military exercise, a report said on Sunday, amid tensions over an expected missile test and South Korea’s pullout from a joint industrial complex.

Preparations are under way near the North’s western port of Nampo for a combined live-fire drill involving artillery units and air force jets, the South’s Yonhap news agency said, citing a Seoul government source.

“It appears that the scale of the drill will be quite big,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying, voicing fears of military provocations against the South or a missile test by Pyongyang during the exercise.

A North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island in November 2010 killed four people. Seoul also holds Pyongyang responsible for the sinking of one of its naval vessels with the loss of 46 sailors the same year.