North Korea is set to complete the assembly of its latest rocket by installing the satellite payload later Tuesday, a senior space official said.

"We are expecting to complete assembly by today," Ryu Kum-Chol, deputy director of the space development department at the communist state's Committee of Space Technology, told foreign journalists in Pyongyang.

Russia on Tuesday said North Korea's planned rocket launch showed disregard for UN Security Council resolutions on the Stalinist state's nuclear and weapons programmes.

"Pyongyang's decision to conduct the launch of an earth satellite is viewed (by Russia) as an example of disregard for decisions adopted by the UN Security Council," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told the RIA Novosti news agency.