SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — Rising moves of personnel and vehicles have been detected in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s main missile launch site, indicating preparations for a long-range missile launch in the near future, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.

A senior South Korean government official was quoted as saying the moves in the DPRK's Tongchanr-ri missile base have remarkably increased recently, noting that strategic provocations, including a long-range missile launch, seemed to have been prepared.

South Korea's military has estimated that Pyongyang could conduct another provocation at or around Oct. 10 to mark the 71st anniversary of the foundation day of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

On Sept. 20, the military said the DPRK conducted a ground test of a new rocket engine that could be used for a long-range missile. It believed that Pyongyang may have enhanced the jet capability of its high-powered rocket engine based on the DPRK's state media report.

The DPRK's official KCNA news agency reported that top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un guided the test of "a new type high-powered engine of a carrier rocket for geo-stationary satellite" at the Sohae Space Center in the country's west coast. The state media said it was a great success.

The Sohae center is dubbed in South Korea as Tongchanr-ri rocket base, where the DPRK launched a long-range rocket in February and had conducted other rocket tests.

Another South Korean government official was quoted as saying that it remained uncertain whether the DPRK would test-launch a long-range missile boosted by the new rocket unveiled on Sept. 20, but he said South Korea is closely watching the launch site's moves with all possibilities being open.