North Korea Leader Kim Jong-Un Injures Wrist

North Korea Leader Kim Jong-Un Injures Wrist

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un appears to have hurt his wrist.

The 32-year-old appeared in a video on North Korean Central TV with what seemed to be a bandaged right wrist.

If he is hurt, however, it does not seem to be bothering him too much.

The bandage can be spotted as Kim waves and smiles at supporters during an inspection of a weapons factory in Pyongyang.

"He didn't have the injury when he inspected a military unit on April 4," a South Korean government official said, "so it must be recent."

But the supreme leader did not attend Thursday's meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang.

An official from South Korea's unification ministry said Kim Jong-Un probably stayed away because there was nothing very interesting to rubber stamp.

Last autumn, rumours swelled around Kim's health when he vanished from public for 40 days. Theories on why he had disappeared included power struggles in the regime, gout, obesity and a broken ankle.

The state later admitted he had been suffering some "discomfort" but did not elaborate.

Kim is expected to make his first foreign trip since becoming leader after being invited to Moscow in May where he will meet President Vladimir Putin, among other world leaders. The occasion is the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany.

It is thought that Russia could be pursuing a deal with Pyongyang worth £16.5m ($25m) to overhaul North Korea's railways in return for access to mineral resources.

US President Barack Obama has declined an invitation to the Moscow commemorations.

North Korea has been engaged in a tit-for-tat diplomatic spat with the US over The Interview movie and the hacking of Sony Pictures.

And Pyongyang's strong language, including threatening the US with " final doom " has been backed by a series of military drills and Kim urging his army to be combat ready .