North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun at midnight on Tuesday on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the demise of President Kim Il Sung in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang July 8,... 
 
 SEOUL North Korean leader Kim Jong Un limped on to the stage on the anniversary of his grandfather's death, footage broadcast by state media on Tuesday showed. in a rare display of weakness in a country where leaders are portrayed as semi-divine. 
 
 The footage showed Kim limping quickly on to the center of a large stage in front a vast smiling portrait of his grandfather, North Korean founding president Kim Il Sung, who died 20 years ago. 
 
 State media and propaganda are highly choreographed by the isolated country and any defects with its leadership are usually kept a tightly guarded secret. 
 
 Kim Il Sung, who ruled until his death in 1994, had a large and inoperable tennis-ball sized growth on the back of his neck which meant state media were forbidden from filming him from certain angles. 
 
 It was not immediately clear how Kim Jong Un developed the limp. State media has shown the 30 year-old leader conducting extensive military on the spot guidance visits on the east and west coasts in recent weeks. 
 
 North and South Korea are technically still at war after their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. 
 
 North Korea, which has threatened a fourth nuclear test in violation of U.N. sanctions, has test-fired short-range missiles and rockets three times in the past 10 days and threatened to continue doing so. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Sanggyu Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie) ||||| 2014/07/08 15:40 
 
 SEOUL, July 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un led a national memorial service on Tuesday in Pyongyang to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of his grandfather and the state founder Kim Il-sung. 
 
 As the ceremony was broadcast live through the North's state-run Korean Central Television monitored in Seoul, Kim drew the attention of South Korean news media because he appeared to be limping slightly as he walked to his seat. The reason for the limp is not known. 
 
 It marked Kim's first appearance in an official quinquennium memorial for his grandfather as a North Korean leader as the last memorial service of this kind was held in 2009, attended by the late leader Kim Jong-il. 
 
 The communist country has held widely-published memorial services for the founder's death every five and 10 years, apparently in efforts to revive the memory of the highly-revered founder who died in 1994 and to spur allegiance to the ruling Kim family. 
 
 Late leader Kim Jong-il's younger sister, Kyong-hui, was not present at the event in the Pyongyang Gymnasium, an absence probably traceable to the shocking execution of her husband and the leader's once-powerful uncle, Jang Song-thaek. 
 
 The North's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, extolled the three-generation power inheritance in his speech to the meeting, saying that "Splendidly solving the succession issue of revolutionary achievements was the greatest of comrade Kim Il-sung's works achieved for his country and its people's future." 
 
 
 
 North Korea is "the most stable socialist (nation) with a solid unity among the leader, the party and the public with strong independence and national characteristics," he said in defense of the country's political system. 
 
 A host of top echelon military and political officials attended the national event, including the military's top political officer, Hwang Pyong-so, Premier Pak Pong-ju as well as Choe Ryong-hae, a governing party secretary. 
 
 North Korea's state Korean Central Television shows leader Kim Jong-un attending a national memorial service on July 8, 2014, marking the 20th anniversary of national founder Kim Il-sung's death. (Yonhap) 
 
 pbr@yna.co.kr 
 
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– Not surprising: that a 30-something man who appears to have recently gained weight, smokes heartily, and is probably perpetually stressed out from his dictatorial duties might have physical issues. Surprising: that that man is Kim Jong Un—and that state media showed him apparently exhibiting one of those physical issues today. Footage aired on state television showed North Korea's "supreme leader" limping onto the stage at a 20th anniversary tribute for his deceased grandfather, Kim Il Sung. The footage is unusual in that North Korea carefully controls all state media and rarely shows its leaders showing any defects or sign of weakness. Kim Il Sung, for example, reportedly forbade the media from taking any pictures of him that showed a large growth on the back of his neck, reports Reuters. While so far it's not clear why Kim appeared to be limping as he entered the Pyongyang ceremony and took his place onstage in front of a giant, smiling portrait of his grandfather, the founder of North Korea, what is clear is that it jump-started media speculation about his health. His well-being, or lack thereof, is a source of constant speculation among the press in general and the South Korean press in particular. Yonhap notes it was Kim's first appearance at an official quinquennium memorial, which it reports is held as a way to keep Kim Il Sung's memory alive and bolster the country's allegiance to the Kims.