North Korea's New Dear Leader

Young and untested, Kim Jong Un has all but taken over North Korea's leadership.

State media hailed him 'supreme commander' and 'leader of the state, army and party' well before his late father was borne through the streets of Pyongyang today.

Nevertheless, Kim, vice-chairman of the ruling party's Central Military Commission, is expected quickly to take on additional titles to cement his place at the top.

'Kim will need the Workers' Party general secretary post and the supreme commander position, which require the party to meet for a full Central Committee meeting,' said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

'But he does need to be officially appointed new leader so that meeting could come in February or March, before they want to go ahead with declaring the year of the "strong and prosperous" nation in April,' Mr Yang said, referring to a long-proclaimed national goal.

Not much is known about the younger Kim, not even his exact age, though his father, Kim Jong-il, and his autocratic regime had made preparations for the son's transition to power.

Kim was appointed as a four-star general last year and vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission at a Workers' Party meeting.

Educated in Switzerland, he is thought to speak English and German, and bears a striking resemblance to his grandfather, the North's founder, Kim Il-sung.

The young Kim is likely to follow the same militaristic path as his late father, experts say, maintaining a strong grip over one of the world's largest armies and pressing on with a nuclear weapons programme in the face of international outrage.