North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has married, state media has confirmed.

The announcement puts an end to speculation over his relationship with a woman seen at his side during a recent gala.

Two weeks ago, Mr Kim was seen at the performance accompanied by the woman, and there were rumours as to whether she was his wife, lover or sister.

Some observers in South Korea speculated she was a singer he dated years ago before his father put a stop to it, but who was now back on the scene.

Recent TV footage showed the two laughing with each other and clapping while watching a performance featuring western show tunes and Mickey Mouse.

The state broadcaster named his wife as Ri Sol-ju.

''While a welcoming song was playing, our party and people's supreme leader, Marshal Kim Jong-un, came out from a ceremony of the completion (of a "pleasure ground") with wife, Ri Sol-ju," it said.

Mr Kim, thought to be in his late-20s, took over the family dynasty last December after the death of his father.

The former leader's rule took North Korea deeper into isolation, abject poverty and large-scale political repression.

Since then Mr Kim has taken a more glitzy approach, at least on the surface, to ruling a country that is locked in a stand-off with the West over its nuclear weapons programme.

Once the official mourning period was over, the youngest Kim to rule North Korea was seen laughing with fusty old generals, gesticulating in delight at a military parade and, the biggest shock of all, speaking.

Most North Koreans went to their graves never having seen Kim the elder speak.

Mr Kim the younger has steadily worked to impose his own stamp on the top leadership of North Korea, and on Sunday ousted Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho, the country's leading military figure, who was seen as close to Kim Jong-il.

Kim Jong-un was named marshal of the army in a move that adds to his glittering array of titles and cements his power. He already heads the Workers' Party of Korea and is First Chairman of the National Defence Commission.