A 10-year-old photograph of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's heir apparent Jong-un at the age of 16 was published in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper on Sunday. The Japanese daily said the photo was taken in June 1999, when Jong-un, then at junior high school in Switzerland under the assumed name Park Un, posed with his classmates.

The paper said Jong-un was in Bern from the summer of 1996 until January 2001. He originally studied at Bern International School, which his older brother Jong-chol (28), also attended. But Jong-un transferred to a public school there a few months later. His teacher at the time said Kim Jong-un "came to the teacher's room one day and said he was going back to his home country tomorrow and did not show up the next day."