North Korea: Leader Kim Jong-un grooming his daughter to be his successor?

Information about the young woman is scarce. For example, her name was never officially released, but it is believed that her name is Kim Ju-ae.

What is known about Kim Jong-un’s daughter?

Kim Jong-un leads one of the countries that tries most to keep everything that happens to him a secret, and very little is known about his personal life.

In July 2012, North Korea confirmed that Ri Sol-ju was Kim’s wife, a month after she was first seen in public with him.

Since then, South Korean media have speculated that the two have three children — two girls and a boy — with Ju-ae being the eldest.

In September 2013, retired American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who was in North Korea on a “basketball diplomacy tour”, told the British newspaper The Guardian that “Kim had a daughter”.

“I held your baby Ju-ae and talked to [a esposa de Kim] also. He’s a good dad and he has a beautiful family,” Rodman told the paper.

But at that time, there was no official response or confirmation from North Korea to Rodman’s comments.

On November 19, 2022, KCNA published several photos of the father and daughter for the first time, confirming long-standing rumors about their existence.

State media reported that they had been talking to officials, inspecting missiles and watching an intercontinental ballistic missile launch from an observation deck the day before.

But there were no details of the girl’s name or age in the report.

Her age would be between 12 and 13 years old, points out Michael Madden, an expert on North Korea at the Stimson Center in Washington (USA).

For Madden, the young woman’s public appearance may be a message from Kim Jong-un that “the fourth generation of succession in power will come through my (blood) line”.

“The revelation of Kim Jong-un’s daughter has interested analysts in North Korea much more than the news that the country has successfully launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile,” said the BBC’s Seoul correspondent, Jean Mackenzie.

“Does this mean that she has been chosen as Kim Jong-un’s successor and will one day rule North Korea?”

And just a week after the first photos of the father and daughter were released, KCNA published another set of photos of the two on Sunday.

Again, there was no mention of his age or name. But this time she was described as the leader’s “most beloved” or “precious” daughter.

“This is certainly impressive. The photograph of Kim Ju-ae standing next to her father as she is celebrated by technicians and scientists involved in the latest ICBM launch would support the idea that this is the beginning of her positioning as a potential successor,” Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told NBC.

Some analysts, however, warn that it is too early to say whether she will be the successor.

Chun Su-jin, a South Korean author of a book on North Korean women leaders, said in an interview with Reuters that North Korean elites are unlikely to accept Kim’s daughter as ruler.

“The country is not ready for a leader of the other gender [uma mulher]”, she said. “[Kim] He’s just trying to show that he’s a loving father, not just a brutal dictator who shoots missiles.”

“In North Korea, gender is still important to be a leader,” says Hyun In-ae, a North Korean defector who now works at the Ewha Institute for Unification Studies in Seoul, South Korea.

Today there is already a woman in the North Korean regime who has been drawing the world’s attention for some years: Kim Yo-jong, Kim’s sister.

When rumors and speculation surfaced in 2020 about Kim Jong-un’s health, his sister, Kim Yo-jong, was seen as a possible replacement to take over the family dynasty until one of Kim’s children was old enough.

Kim Yo-jong has held a top position in the regime for some time. Recently, she made threats to South Korea because of the sanctions applied against North Korea.

But it is obvious that the appearance of Kim Jong-un’s daughter has raised more questions in the world, says Jean Mackenzie of the BBC.

“Why reveal it now? She is still very young. If he is grooming her to take over, could that mean the 38-year-old leader has health problems? His health is the subject of much speculation because it appears to be the biggest risk to the stability of the regime.”