A junior official from the British embassy in North Korea accompanied Kim Jong-eun on a rollercoaster ride last week, UK officials have confirmed, highlighting the tentative rapprochement between the two countries in recent years.

Photographs of the ride, taken during a visit to a newly opened theme park in Pyongyang, were circulated as part of what appears to be a publicity drive by the authoritarian state's new leader, who is promoting a youthful and upbeat image that contrasts with the grim militarism of Kim Jong-il, his father.

The UK is one of only a handful of western countries to have an embassy in North Korea, which it set up in 2000 in the hope of building a more constructive diplomatic relationship with the country, five decades after British soldiers fought in the Korean war. North Korea has an embassy in west London.