Video: North Korea's Kim Jong-un seen limping in public The video footage was released a day after the North's top newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried still images of Kim walking without a stick at the same meeting. Before his prolonged absence, state television had shown Kim walking with a limp. Since assuming power after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in 2011, Kim Jong-Un has cut a very public figure, with state media showing him engaged in a seemingly endless series of trips to military units and factories across the country where he gives what is officially known as "field guidance." His sudden disappearance, which began in early September, quickly became a source of rumour and speculation. This went into overdrive after he missed two noteworthy political events he would normally have been expected to attend, with some reports even suggested he had been ousted in a coup.