Kim Jong-un

North Korea this week released a flurry of photos to accompany news that a rocket engine was launched by the state.

However, one image stood out in particular – North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un being piggy-backed by an older man.

In pictures released by state news agency KCNA, the rule – known as the supreme leader – was seen shaking hands with officers and laughing, but the bizarre photo led the BBC to ask what exactly was going on, in a report published Friday.

Observers told the BBC that the man is not a well-known figure in North Korean political spheres but added that his uniform’s insignias show he is most likely an officer of the KPA Strategic Force.

North Korean expert Michael Madden told the BBC the image was most likely stage-managed but “it wasn’t completely machinated or fabricated.”

Madden, who is with the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, added: “It was more a signal of allowance and encouragement than something completely machinated by an image maker.”

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council on Thursday “strongly condemned” the North Korean missile and ballistic missile engine tests, denouncing Pyongyang’s “increasingly destabilizing behavior” on Thursday.

The condemnation came as the US military said on Thursday that it has observed activity in North Korea that suggests Pyongyang may be gearing up for another nuclear test.

“The launch and engine test are in grave violation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s international obligations,” the council said in a statement.

“The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s increasingly destabilizing behavior and flagrant and provocative defiance of the Security Council,” it added.

North Korea is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and staged two nuclear tests and multiple missile launches last year.