Kim Jong-un flies in private jet to oversee launch

North Korea released footage on Thursday showing leader Kim Jong-un traveling on his private jet to supervise preparations for Sunday’s long-range rocket launch and provided a rare view of the country’s newly upgraded space center on the east coast.

The footage on North Korean state TV also showed the lift-off of the Kwangmyongsong rocket from a newly-expanded launch tower and what appeared to be the first-stage booster separating from the rocket as it flew into space, seen from an onboard camera.

“The dignity of Paektu shot to space carrying our satellite Kwangmyongso-ng-4,” a narrator said in an excited voice as fast-tempo music played in the background. Paektu refers to the mountain on the China border, seen as the birthplace of the North’s revolution led by three generations of the Kim family.

Mr Kim was shown having discussions with military aides onboard as he flew to the Tongchangri rocket station on a Russian-built Ilyushin jet that had been previously depicted in state media as his private jet.

The top military officers from the US, South Korea and Japan said on Wednesday that North Korea’s Sunday launch was direct violations of UN resolutions.

The head of the U.S. Army’s Missile Defense Command said on Wednesday that a satellite put into orbit by North Korea at the weekend did not appear to be transmitting, but it was worrying that the rocket that took it there delivered twice the payload of Pyongyang’s previous launch in 2012.

The Tongchang-ri space station was seen to have undergone upgrades to erect a taller launch tower and add covered rocket processing buildings that made possible the assembly of the three-stage rocket largely out of sight of spy satellites.