N. Korea building 8th runway exclusively for Kim Jong-un: report

North Korea is building another runway exclusively for its leader Kim Jong-un in the North's South Pyongan Province, a US-based broadcaster said Thursday.

Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the 870-meter-long airstrip in Unsan County, the eighth one for Kim, is located near a cement plant, mine and new industrial complex being built.

A footage captured from North Korea's Korean Central Television on Dec. 30, 2014, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un seated in the cockpit of an airplane.(Yonhap)

The location of the airstrip strengthens the belief that it will be used for Kim's field inspections of industrial facilities, said Melvin, who analyzes satellite imagery for clues to North Korean affairs.

He also said that Kim's seventh airstrip had been spotted near an equestrian center in Pyongyang in May, adding the North has constructed a series of runways for Kim. (Yonhap)