An AFP photographer saw extra soldiers on the island and multiple rocket launchers being installed, six days after the barrage which triggered fury in the South and alarm worldwide.

Military officials quoted by Yonhap news agency said the number of K-9 self-propelled howitzers there had been doubled to 12.

Officials in a loudspeaker broadcast also announced plans for a live-fire drill on November 30 and told residents to shelter in bunkers. But hours later, another broadcast announced there would be no such drill and blamed "wrong information".

The drill had been planned but was delayed, a military official told Yonhap news agency on condition of anonymity. The reason was unclear.

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Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK) will meet in Washington on December 6 to discuss the crisis with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Nikkei news agency reported on November 29.

Nikkei, quoting "sources close to the matter", said the three countries hoped to persuade China to take more action to ease the tensions on a South Korean island last week.

The three countries will also discuss a proposal by China to hold a summit meeting of the six parties which have been trying to rein in the DPRK's nuclear program. Russia and the DPRK are part of that group.

In Washington, a White House official declined to confirm the meeting, saying only that the US was consulting the RoK, Japan and other partners "on the way forward" on the DPRK situation.

Asked about the possibility of a meeting, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, told reporters: "That is something that we have discussed and ... if that meeting has been confirmed, we'll announce it shortly."

AFP-Reuters