North's Korea's KCNA news agency has released a new photograph of Kim Jong-il's youngest son, who appears to be leader-in-waiting of the secretive state.
The photograph shows a plump, poker-faced young man seated near North Korea's ailing ruler.
Kim Jong-un was this week appointed to senior political and military posts in the isolated state whose aspirations to be a nuclear weapons power has worried the outside world for years.
The photo is the first picture since his annointment of the 20-something third son of Kim Jong-il and about whom little is known other than he was educated in Switzerland. The only previous known photos of him date back to his childhood.
The official group photograph of dozens of military and civilian officials showed a young man seated in a prominent position, two places to the right of Kim Jong-il, in the front row.
Although he was not officially identified, the young man was the only person in the photograph around Jong-un's age. A unification ministry source in Seoul said the man was most likely Kim Jong-un.
The photo was taken in front of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, the former official residence of Jong-un's grandfather and founder of the North Korean state Kim Il-sung - and to whom he showed a resemblence.
After months of speculation, the untested Jong-un was this week made second in command to his father at the ruling Workers' Party's powerful Central Military Commission.
The young Kim, whose existence has been a secret even in North Korea until this week, was also made a general in one of the world's largest armies. He was also appointed a Central Committee member at the biggest political meeting in the impoverished state for 30 years.
Rising with him were Kim Jong-il's sister and her husband, creating a powerful triumvirate ready to take over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its founding after the second World War.
Kim Jong-il (68) is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 although it was difficult to assess his health from the latest photo. North Korea's paramount leader has shown no sign of losing his grip on power and was reappointed on Tuesday as secretary-general of the Workers' Party.
A stable succession will be a relief to its economically powerful neighbours - China, South Korea and Japan - who worry regime collapse could result in massive refugee flows and possibly descend into civil war.
Reuters