Photos of Kim Jong-un watching a submarine missile launch were doctored, according to experts

He's at it again. Experts believe a photograph of Kim Jong-un proudly watching the launch of a missile in North Korea has been doctored by state propagandists.

Earlier this month, images were released by KCNA - North Korea's state news agency - which claimed to show the leader observing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) near Sinpo.

But German aerospace engineers believe the photos have been "strongly modified". One giveaway is the reflection of the missile's exhaust flame (below) which doesn't line up with the missile itself.

"Considering the track record of North Korean deceptions, it seems sensible to assume that any North Korean SLBM capability is still a very long time in the future, if it will ever surface," Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker of Schmucker Technologie told Reuters.

The pair agreed with the analysis of other Western experts who said the missile was more likely to have been launched from a specially designed underwater barge rather than a submarine.

Separately, US Admiral James Winnefeld told an audience in Washington on Tuesday that North Korea is still "many years" from developing missile capable submarines like the one seen in the photos.

"They have not gotten as far as their clever video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe," he said.

Nice try, Kim Jong-un.

More: We asked three North Korea experts how much truth there is to the horrific stories coming out of the country