North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paints a confused, contradictory picture of his true character Is he the tyrannical dictator of a repressive police state? Or a moderate reformer seeking to establish a new direction for North Korea. THERE's something about Kim Jong-un. One minute he's a theme-park loving family man. The next he is threatening death and destruction upon us all. United States military intelligence agencies have compiled a psychological profile of Jong-un. It assesses him as an uncertain and inexperienced young man who feels compelled to prove how tough he is. For most of his life Kim Jong-un has been an unknown. His mother was an opera singer; His father the hard-core dictator of North Korea. Serious threat or a joke? We think he is 29-years-old. Nobody is certain. Former North Korean President Kim Il-Sung, left, and his son, current North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Upon the death of his father Kim Kim Jong-il in 2011, the mysterious and young Jong-un was thrust on to the world stage. Since then he has been a living contradiction. Many hoped he would be a media-savvy moderate who heralded a new era of openness and cooperation with the West. Others feared he would continue the chaotic and repressive regime established by his forebears Both have had their expectations met - then dashed. Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his wife Ri Sol Ju, waves to the crowd as they inspect the Rungna People's Pleasure Ground in Pyongyang, North Korea. Just in the past few months, he's been seen taken several steps forward - only to go backwards once again. His image started out as a cuddly young father of the state parading his pregnant wife to the media, hosting high-flying basketball celebrities such as Dennis Rodman and touring brand-new theme parks with the general public. Now, he's being depicted as a ranting and raving dictator, re-starting intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs amid chanting and cheering masses of soldiers. Not to mention the bizarre video of a North Korean dreaming of the destruction of the White House to the stirring refrain of - We Are The World. The rest of the world sees this blustering contradiction as humorous - and frightening. Even weird. A former CIA expert on North Korea has said Kim Jong-un knows nothing about hardship or struggle, and little about leadership. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un claps during the unveiling ceremony of two statues of former leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang. " (He is) a Kim who was not, did not, prepare very well for the position," Joseph DeTrani told CBS News. He is a man who is 28, 29 -very limited exposure to the west, to China also, so he's lived in a closed environment. Gillard declares support for South On the 'plus' side Kim Jong-un has been portrayed by North Korean state media as an educated man with a new, stylish young wife. His taste for American basketball is celebrated, with two top NBA players invited on state visits since his accession. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and US players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea. His new wife Ri Sol-ju was revealed to the world last year after she appeared alongside him in a series of moderately toned scenes involving new public facilities and entertainment complexes. Speculation still exists in South Korea as to whether she is a "re-branded" North Korean singer whom Jong-un's father had banned him from seeing during his youth. It is not known when they married. It is not known if their expected child has yet been born. Jong-un also raised hopes when, in February last year, he agreed to halt nuclear testing and cease long-range missile development. On the 'negative' side, Jong-un has not proven true to his word. He has approved an increasingly provocative series of missile tests culminating in the recent stand-off with the United States and the declaration that North Korea has re-started its nuclear weapons program. This undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un at the Taesongsan General Hospital being built by the People's Army in Pyongyang. In December last year North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach all of Australia and much of the United States. In February, it conducted its third underground nuclear explosion. Another side of his character has been revealed by more recent propaganda. State television showed him among jubilant masses as he visited the site of a rocket attack on South Korea in 2010. Another bizarre video showed a sleeping Korean dreaming about destroying the White House to the tune of We Are The World. Perhaps this reflects on his insecurities about the political environment he must live in. Among Jong-un's closest political allies are his uncle, Jang Sung-taek, and army political chief Choe Ryong-hae. Much of his bellicose political posturing may be attempts to keep them placated or, at least, to maintain a strong position within their eyes. Kim Jong Un uses a pair of binoculars to look at the South's territory from an observation post at the military unit on Jangjae islet, located in the southernmost part of the southwestern sector of North Korea's border with South Korea. Kim's clear and present danger There is no certainty that his role at the peak of North Korean politics is permanent - or even real. Biographers paint a picture of a boy who was the favourite of three to his mother, Ko Young-hee. She is believed to have been Jong-un's greatest advocate, campaigning strongly for him to be named Jong-il's successor. Young-hee died in 2004. Kim Jong-il is said to have seen a measure of himself reflected in Jong-un, and took a particular liking to the young man. Chicken Kev? He began to openly groom Jung-un as his successor in 2010. It is widely reported Jong-un had been sent to Switzerland for his early education, where he reportedly developed a taste for Nike shoes. Upon his return to North Korea, he was sent to the Kim Il-sung Military University (named after his grandfather) in Pyongyang. Perhaps his future can be tied to the public image he is trying to promote that of being the modern incarnation of North Korea's revolutionary founder. Kim Il-sung was the leader of the communist Worker's Party who created the highly militaristic state in 1948. He invaded South Korea in 1950. Kim Il-sung remained leader for more than 50 years and established the dynasty when his son, Jong-il, took the reigns in 1994. Whatever Jong-un's background and character, he finds himself the leader of a country deeply mired in poverty and famine. His inheritance is run as a police state, with concentration camps and re-education facilities among the many reported human-rights abuses. Whether he turns out to be the moderate he claims to be or a clone of his bellicose and tyrannical father will largely depend on his actions in coming days.