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Satellite fueled up for launch

Pyongyang on Wednesday was injecting fuel into a rocket it plans to send into space with an observation satellite onboard.

"The satellite has been completely assembled on the launch vehicle. We're injecting fuel," Paek Chung-hou, general director of the General Satellite Control Center of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, told reporters.

The DPRK government on Wednesday invited a group of foreign visitors to the launch site, which lies about 20 kilometers northwest of Pyongyang.

When asked if the DPRK would launch the satellite on Thursday, the director said "the exact date will be decided by my superiors".

Experts have said it will take nine to 10 hours to inject fuel into the rocket, which means it could be launched as early on Thursday and no later than Monday if Pyongyang's plans are carried out.

Paek said that, even though he is busy preparing for the launch, DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un ordered him to participate in interviews with the media.

"This is unprecedented and is meant to show the transparency of the launch," he said, adding "it's necessary that we share data (from the launch) with other countries." "As you can see here, you can tell this is a satellite and not a missile, which would have a warhead," Paek said.

He said Washington's insistence that Pyongyang is launching a missile stems from its decades of misunderstanding and hostility toward the East Asian country. Paek, though, said people in the DPRK "don't really care about outside opinion".

"It (the launch) is critical to the development of our economy, and that is why we are going ahead."

"The Americans make us very puzzled," he said. "They will exaggerate the threat and military power of the DPRK when they need a larger military budget."