North Korea Denies Kim Jong-un in Poor Health from Cheese Addiction

Kim Jong-un has not been taken ill due to a debilitating addiction to Swiss cheese, said a spokesman for North Korea.

A top official from the Hermit Kingdom moved to quash rumours that the young dictator is in poor health, after ballooning in weight due to a bizarre obsession with emmental cheese.

Kim Yang-Gon took the unusual step of speaking out during an even more unusual visit to North Korea's arch-enemy, South Korea.

Speaking at the Asian Games on rumours that began after Jong-un vanished from public life, Yang-Gon insisted: "There is nothing wrong with the health of Secretary Kim."

Jong-un, 31, was seen walking with a limp during his most recent appearances in public, which prompted the regime to acknowledge he was suffering from "discomfort."

However, the high-ranking official's comment failed to address rumours there has been a shift in power inside the secretive state, away from the hereditary leader.

Last week, reports emerged that transport visas into and out of the capital city Pyongyang had been withdrawn, sparking rumours of a coup.

But it was not known if banning movement in the city where the elite of the regime live was a sign that an uprising was taking place, or being crushed by the leadership.

The reasons why Jong-un has swollen in size are unclear, but one suggestion was that he was overeating cheese to pay tribute to his grand-father Kim Il-sung, who founded North Korea.

Il-sung was a portly man and some regime watchers have speculated the current leader wants to look the same by chomping cheese from the country in which he was sent to school.