(Reuters) - A photograph of a plump, poker-faced young man seated near North Korea\'s ailing ruler confirmed the rise of Kim Jong-il\'s youngest son as the leader-in-waiting of the secretive state.

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, published by state media on Thursday, is the first picture since the appointment 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.

Park Young-ho of the Korean Institute for National Unification said the photograph provided unwritten confirmation that the young Kim was the heir apparent.

"It has now been made public he is the successor ... the picture shows that Kim Jong-un is now the second man in North Korea\'s power echelon," he said.

The official group photograph of dozens of military and civilian officials showed a young man seated in the front row, two places to the right of Kim Jong-il.

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, dressed in traditional Maoist-style attire, was most likely Kim Jong-un.

Seated immediately to the leader\'s right was another rising star, Ri Yong-ho, who is considered among the new generation of military cadre who could act as a link when Kim turns over power to his son.

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 resemblance.

A few hours later, North Korean TV showed footage of the same somber-looking young man at the ruling party conference, standing amongst hundreds of other delegates in an austere auditorium.


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