North Korea officials have allegedly requested Chinese authority to stop its people from using a nickname of Kim Jong-un which indicates he is fat, according to Chinese media.

The supreme leader of North Korea has been known as 'Kim Fatty III' among Chinese web users.

However, the search term now brings up no results on Chinese social media and the main Chinese search engine, MailOnline can reveal.

North Korea officials have allegedly requested Chinese authority to stop its people from calling Kim Jong-un 'Kim Fatty III'. The North Korean leader was pictured inspecting the Pyongyang Children's Foodstuff Factory in 2015

The censorship was thought to be applied after a recent meeting between the Chinese and North Korean officials, reported Apple Daily, a newspaper based in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The nickname 'Kim Fatty III', which reads 'jin san pang' (金三胖) in Chinese, has been widely used among the country's web users since Kim Jong-un became the ruler of North Korea in 2011.

MailOnline searched for 'Kim Fatty III' on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, today.

The search result read: 'According to relevant laws and policies, the search results of "jin san pang" have not be shown.'

An attempt on Baidu, the Chinese equivalent to Google, produced a similar outcome.

The search page on Baidu said: 'Apologies, no web pages related to "jin san pang" were found.'

The screenshot on Baidu said: 'Apologies, no web pages related to "jin san pang" were found'

The search result on Weibo read: 'According to relevant laws and policies, the search results of "jin san pang" have not be shown'

After the censorship was allegedly applied, Chinese internet users have found different ways to keep calling Kim Jong-un fat.

They cleverly changed the Chinese character for 'fat' (胖) into two characters: 'moon' (月) and 'half' (半). While being put next to each other, these two characters compose the character 'fat'.

Some people simply dropped his surname Kim and started calling him 'Fatty III'.

By using these methods, thousands of Chinese people have managed to poke fun of the North Korean ruler.

WHY IS KIM JONG-UN CALLED 'KIM FATTY III' IN CHINA? It is not just Kim Jong-un. His father, Kim Jong-il and grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, are also thought to be fat by Chinese web users. Kim Jong-un was pictured inspecting the Pyongyang Children's Foodstuff Factory in 2015 There are several different theories on the origin of the nickname. Here are the two popular ones according to Chinese media. The first one deprives from the three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership. Apparently all of the three leaders on North Korea's history are deemed 'fat' by Chinese people. Kim Il-sung, the founder of the communist country, is called 'Kim Fatty I'. His son, Kim Jong-il, is 'Kim Fatty II' while Kim Jong-un is 'Kim Fatty III'. The second theory says because Kim Jong-un is the third son of Kim Jong-il and he is fat, he is called 'Kim Fatty III". Advertisement

In addition, it appears that it is still possible to use the term 'Kim Fatty III' in one's comments on Weibo.

Referring to the alleged ban, one user said: 'Is "Fatty III" interfering China's internal affairs?'

Another person joked: '[He] is not humorous at all. "Kim Fatty III" sounds great.'

A third user wrote: '"Kim Fatty III" has not expected that this request would bring him even more nicknames.'

And this seems to be true. Chinese people have already suggested creative alternatives to replaces the allegedly banned nickname, including 'Kim Chubby III', 'Kim Fatty 2+1'.

This is not the first time China has reportedly banned Kim Jong-un's nickname 'Kim Fatty III'.

In October, 2015, the search term was thought to be censored after a Chinese official visited North Korea to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the ruling Worker's Party.