Kim Jong-un has chosen his teenaged daughter to be his heir, South Korea has claimed.
Seoul’s spy agency told parliament on Thursday that Kim Ju-ae had been selected to lead North Korea when her father dies.
Ju-ae, the only publicly known child of Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju, has become an increasingly present figure during tightly choreographed official appearances, provoking suspicion that she was being groomed to be her father’s successor.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it took a “range of circumstances” into account, including Ju-ae’s “increasingly prominent public presence at official events”.
They said it would be notable if she attends North Korea’s party congress later this month. It is the country’s largest political event that takes place every five years.
If she attends or receives a title at the party congress, speculation about her path to succession will “gain traction”, South Korean congressman Lee Seong-kweun told reporters on Thursday.
Kim Ju-ae is believed to be around 13 years old and is already taller than her father.
Ju-ae first appeared on state television in 2022 when she was seen inspecting North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile while holding her father’s hand.
Believed to be around 13 years old, she is already taller than her father and symbolically walks beside him.
Despite her young age, she has been dressed in mature outfits – pictured in fur-trimmed leather coats and sunglasses, high heels and tailored suits – and wears her hair down as opposed to the mandatory up-dos imposed on North Korean women.
She has accompanied her father on a number of military and social events, including to meet Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Beijing – Pyongyang’s most important allies.
‘Designated as successor’
“As Kim Ju-ae has shown her presence at various events, including the founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected of her voicing her opinion on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being designated as successor,” Mr Lee said.
The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is seen as the most sacred place in North Korea. It is where Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung – Kim Jong-un’s father and grandfather who preceded him as North Korea’s leader – lie in state.
Still, the apparent choice of a young, female heir has sparked confusion, with defectors and analysts long predicting a male would be put in charge in accordance with the country’s deeply ingrained gender roles.
The NIS previously made the assessment that Kim has three children and the eldest is male.
Hans Horan, an analyst at 38 North, said a female successor would likely face “unique challenges” consolidating authority in such a patriarchal society, with propaganda campaigns required to cement her legitimacy.
Sydney Seiler, a former US intelligence officer, said in a Committee for Human Rights in North Korea publication that Ju-ae’s military appearances could be an attempt to show she is well-versed in such matters and dismiss perceived “vulnerabilities”.
Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong was also tipped as a potential successor. Ms Kim, who currently holds a senior position in the central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, is widely considered the second most powerful person in the country.
But North Korean ideological doctrine appears to enforce the idea of a hereditary heir, arguing that the successor must come from the next generation, as Kim did from his father and grandfather before him.
According to the NIS, Ju-ae lives in a seaside estate likened to Mar-a-Lago in Wonsan, in the south-eastern province of Kangwon, where she enjoys swimming pools, water slides and football fields. She is being homeschooled in the capital and enjoys horseback riding, swimming and skiing.
Her existence was inadvertently revealed by American basketball player Dennis Rodman in 2013 when he told The Guardian that he “held baby Ju-ae” while on a visit to North Korea.
Kim, who is 41 or 42 years old, is relatively young but has suffered from health problems caused by obesity, including high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as stress and smoking, the NIS has claimed.
Experts have questioned whether health issues have forced him to look for a successor so soon.
But it could be a signal to the rest of the world that the Kim dynasty stays strong and will continue for a long time.
