Kim Ju-ae likely heir to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, says South’s spy agency
The young daughter of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un is seen as her father’s heir apparent, South Korea’s spy agency has said, in the South’s first such assessment on the girl.
There has been intense outside debate and speculation about Kim Ju-ae, who is reportedly about 10 years old, since she made her first public appearance in November 2022 when she watched a long-range missile test launch with her father.
Kim Ju-ae has since accompanied Kim Jong-un to major public events, with state media calling her the North Korean leader’s “most beloved” or “respected” child and releasing footage and photos proving her rising political standing and closeness with her father.
South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), made its assessment of her future role citing a comprehensive analysis of her public activities and the state protocols provided to her.
A senior general knelt and whispered to her when she clapped while watching a military parade at a VIP observation stand in September. She was photographed standing in front of her father at one point during a visit to the air force headquarters in November, with both Kims wearing sunglasses and long leather jackets. In a New Year’s Eve celebration at a packed Pyongyang stadium on Sunday, Kim Jong-un kissed her on the cheek and she did the same to her father.
Most of these scenes are something that had been unimaginable in North Korea, where Kim is the subject of a strong and loyal following that treats him like a god.
The NIS public affairs office told the Associated Press that it still considers all possibilities regarding the North’s power succession process because Kim is still young, has no known major health issues, and has at least one other child. Kim turns 40 on Monday.
The NIS has an imperfect record in confirming developments in North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive nations. North Korea’s state media has yet to make any direct comments on succession or whether Kim Ju-ae has any siblings.
The assessment came as tensions between the neighbouring countries spiked when North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells near two South Korean islands, with an evacuation order issued for residents on one of them.
“The North Korean military conducted over 200 rounds of firing today from about 09:00 to 11:00 (1200 to 0200 GMT) in the areas of Jangsan-got in the northern part of Baengnyeong Island and the northern areas … of Yeonpyeong Island,” a defence ministry official said at a briefing.
Yeonpyeong local officials told AFP that civilians had been asked to evacuate, describing the order as a “preventative measure”.
Du Hyeogn Cha, an analyst at Seoul’s Asian Institute for Policy Studies, said few could predict whether Kim Ju-ae would eventually become the North’s next leader. Cha added that she lacked the political achievements essential to be formally anointed.
Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family. Kim Jong-un inherited power upon his father Kim Jong-il’s death in late 2011. Kim Jong-il had taken over power after his father and founding ruler of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, died in 1994.
The name of Ju-ae matched what retired NBA star Dennis Rodman called Kim’s baby daughter, whom he said he saw and held during a trip to Pyongyang in 2013. The NIS told lawmakers in a private briefing last year that Kim Ju-ae had an older brother, as well as a younger sibling whose gender the agency had not confirmed.
The NIS said at the time that Kim Ju-ae had never been enrolled in an official education facility and was getting homeschooled in Pyongyang, according to some of the lawmakers who attended the briefing.