<p><br /> North Korea's leader-in-waiting, the youngest son of ailing ruler Kim Jong-il, has made his public debut during the reclusive state's biggest military parade in years.<br /> </p><p><br /> Kim Jong-un joined his father and top military and ruling party officials, as well as Chinese officials, as the giant military parade marched in central Pyongyang.<br /> </p><p><br /> Kim Jong-un's attendance at that event would further increase his standing as the country's next leader.<br /> </p><p><br /> Massive number of troops, missiles, armoured vehicles and artillery rockets were mobilized for the biggest parade in years in Pyongyang's Kim Il-sung Square.<br /> </p><p><br /> The secretive state with nuclear weapons ambitions has invited foreign media to watch the parade, giving the world its first independent look at the leader-in-waiting.<br /> </p><p><br /> Up until his appointment as a general and a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the party late last month, little was known about the young Kim other than that he was educated in Switzerland.<br /> </p><p><br /> Kim's father, 68-year-old Kim Jong-il, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008. But he has shown no sign of losing his grip on power and was reappointed last month as secretary-general of the Workers' Party.<br /> </p><p><br /> A stable succession would be a relief to North Korea's economically powerful neighbours, China, South Korea and Japan, which worry that regime collapse could result in massive refugee flows and possibly descend into civil war.<br /> </p>
