North Korea's state-run media have stopped using the title "Dear Leader" when referring to its leader Kim Jong-il.

Tokyo-based Radiopress agency that monitors North Korean affairs said Thursday the North's Korean Central News Agency and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station referred to Kim instead as his three job titles - General Secretary of the Worker's Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defense Commission and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army.”

Radiopress said the "Dear Leader" title, an emblem of the personality cult he uses in ruling over the communist state, was absent in stories on his recent tour to a military unit on Wednesday.

Radiopress editor Shinya Kato said the latest change is believed to be part of a move intended to soften Kim's image as a dictator.

Meanwhile, diplomats in Pyongyang said this week that portraits of Kim had been removed from some public places, starting as far back as September or even August.