Footage has emerged purporting to show North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un's elder brother in London - attending two Eric Clapton concerts.

The footage shows a man resembling Kim Jong-chul visiting the Royal Albert Hall.

He has previously been seen attending Clapton concerts abroad.

One North Korea observer said the man in the footage did appear to be Mr Kim, who was taken out of the leadership succession several years ago.

Video filmed by a Japanese television network on Wednesday shows a car arriving outside the venue in west London, and a woman wearing a green leather jacket and sunglasses emerging from inside.

Cameras follow her briefly before another similar-looking man, dressed in identical clothes, also walks out of the car.

He is asked a number of questions by journalists but does not speak. Several minders surround him, and they push journalists and cameras away from the man.

The same visitors were seen at a second Clapton concert in the same venue on Thursday night.

Simeon Paterson, a BBC journalist who attended Thursday's concert, said: "He was just like any other fan, but there were officials all around him.

"They were obviously not Clapton fans, and looked really out of place. But he was having a great time, singing along to all the words."

Kim Jong-chul has attended Eric Clapton concerts in Germany in 2006 and Singapore in 2011.

North Korea analyst Aidan Foster-Carter said: "It certainly does look like pictures of him I have seen before. And he has minders - why would he have minders if he wasn't Kim Jong-chul?

"He holds no post in the North Korean government, so would not be subject to a travel ban like others who hold government posts.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap said (in Korean) that the man stayed at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel in west London, where rooms can cost more than £2,100 ($3,290) a night. The hotel did not respond to the BBC's requests for a comment.

He was due to board a flight to Moscow on Friday, Yonhap said.

According to the North Korean Leadership blog, Kim Jong-chol is the oldest child of the fourth wife of former ruler Kim Jong-il, and is 33 years old.

It says that, like his full brother Kim Jong-un, he was educated in Switzerland before returning to North Korea.

Kim Jong-il's former sushi chef said the former ruler saw his son as being "no good because he is like a little girl."

Kim Jong-chol had at one point been considered for the North Korean leadership, but was overlooked by his father in 2009. Kim Jong-un eventually took over when his father died in December 2011.

The North Korean Leadership blog says that Kim Jong-chol has "a pleasant, outgoing personality" and plays an important support role for his brother. At one point, he worked in North Korea's propaganda department.
(BBC)