Kim Jong-un no-show at North Korean parliament prompts health speculation

Speculation intensified yesterday that North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un may be ill after he failed to take his customary seat as the country convened its rubber-stamp parliament.

Only part of this year's second meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly was shown on North Korean state television, but Kim was not present.

If he had missed the meeting, it would be for the first time since he took power after the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December 2011, according to an official for South Korea's Unification Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules.

The usually ubiquitous Kim, the third member of his family to rule the country, has not been seen in state media since attending a concert in Pyongyang on September 3.

He was shown limping on television in July and again earlier this month.

South Korean media outlets have speculated that Kim has been ill, although there has been no discussion of his health in the authoritarian North's state-run media.