North Korea’s supreme leader,
Kim Jong Un, took his teenage daughter to Beijing this week, marking her first public trip abroad and fueling speculation that she could be next in line to inherit the family’s dynastic rule over the nuclear-armed state.
She was spotted walking just behind her father as they stepped off the armored train that had carried them overnight from Pyongyang to Beijing, where Kim Jong Un attended a grand military parade on Wednesday marking the 75th anniversary of Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II in the Pacific.
Although her identity has never been officially confirmed, South Korean intelligence officials believe she is Ju Ae, the daughter of Kim, who former US basketball star Dennis Rodman said he met and held as a baby during a 2013 visit with Kim’s family.
South Korea’s intelligence agency views Ju Ae as the leading successor for now, though doubts remain over whether she could ultimately ascend in a dynasty that has never been ruled by a woman.
Analysts point out that there is no evidence to suggest Kim Jong Un ever accompanied his father, Kim Jong Il, on foreign visits. In contrast, historical records indicate that Kim Jong Il traveled abroad in the 1950s alongside his father, North Korea’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, as cited by Reuters.
Who is Kim Ju Ae?
Ju Ae's first public appearance was with her father Kim Jong Un at the launch of a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile in 2022. Until then, North Korea’s tightly controlled state media remained silent about Kim Jong Un’s children. Even now, very little is known about Kim’s other children.
Believed to be around 13 years old, Ju Ae has appeared at a growing number of high-profile events, making her diplomatic debut at a Russian Embassy function in May.
By 2023, she was reportedly featured on postage stamps and seen at banquets with senior officials while being referred to as Kim Jong Un’s “respected daughter”, as cited by the BBC. The term “respected” in North Korea is reserved for officials of the highest standing. Notably, Kim himself was addressed as “respected comrade” only after his position as successor had been firmly established.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) shared additional details about the young girl with lawmakers, as per the news agency AP. The agency reported that she enjoys horse riding, skiing, and swimming, and has been home-schooled in the capital, Pyongyang.
Some analysts suggest that she has increasingly taken on the role traditionally held by her mother, Kim’s wife Ri Sol Ju, as reported by the New York Times.
North Korea has been under the rule of the Kim family since its establishment at the end of World War II, making it the sole hereditary dynasty in the Communist world. The regime asserts that the Kims descend from a sacred bloodline, a claim used to justify that only they are entitled to lead the country.
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