More confident Kim Jong-un stops mimicking grandfather

The substance of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's New Year's address caught many off guard with its rather conciliatory tone towards the South. The confident style in which the young leader delivered the speech has also been noted by experts. Connie Kim has the details. This is footage of Kim Jong-un making his New Year's address. The way he moves is no different from last year, but his facial expressions have softened up much more. A sound expert has also analyzed his tone of voice. The expert says his voice has a higher tone now and his pronunciation has become clearer. In addition, Kim's sound variation, which usually reflects tolerance level, has expanded notably. This suggests Kim has grown more confident over the past 12 months. "Listening to Kim's 2014 New Year's address, the voice factor shows tolerance has increased by up to 50-percent from last year. Also, noting that a person's voice becomes very clear when confident, Kim's confidence level has jumped by up to 60-percent." The change in Kim Jong-un's voice tone is noteworthy. From following a middle-aged man's low voice tone, Kim has found his own tone that better suits his young age. The similarity between Kim Jong-un and his grandfather Kim Il-sung's voice has decreased from 92-percent to 80-percent in the space of a year. Experts believe Kim Jong-un used to mimic his grandfather's voice to evoke nostalgia for the Kim Il-sung era. However, it wasn't just Kim Jong-un's facial expressions and voice tone that changed over the past year. There is speculation his health may have worsened as Kim took deep breaths every four seconds during his New Year's speech. Connie Kim, Arirang News.