China has banned a nickname widely used to disparage North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Chinese websites are censoring "Kim Fatty The Third" - which pokes fun at Kim's size and ancestry.

The move comes after Pyongyang officials reportedly asked their Chinese counterparts to ban names mocking Kim from appearing in the media.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday: "The Chinese government stays committed to building a healthy and civilised environment of opinions.

"We disapprove of any country with insulting and mocking remarks."

Searches for the Chinese words "Jin San Pang" on the country's leading search engine Baidu and microblogging platform Weibo returned no results this week.

However, Baidu left untouched results for other versions of the nickname, such as "Kim Fat Fat Fat".

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