North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's daughter made a public appearance again. She's only about 10, but her new, bold photos are deepening the debate over whether she's being primed as a successor.
The daughter, believed to be Kim's second child named Ju Ae and about 9 or 10 years old, was first unveiled to the outside world last weekend in state media photos showing her observing the North's intercontinental ballistic missile launch the previous day with her parents and other older officials. The daughter wearing a white puffy coat and red shoes was shown walking hand-in-hand with Kim past a huge missile loaded on a launch truck and watching a soaring weapon.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter attend a photo session with officials involved in the testing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile in an undated photo released on Nov. 27, 2022, by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.Some photos showed the pair standing in the middle of a line of uniformed soldiers before a massive missile atop a launch truck.
After her first public appearance, South Korea's spy service told lawmakers that it assessed the girl pictured is Kim's second child, who is about 10 and whose name is Ju Ae. The National Intelligence Service said her looks matched information that she is taller and bigger than other girls of the same age. It also said that her unveiling appeared to reflect Kim's resolve to protect the security of North Korea's future generations in the face of a standoff with the United States.
"We've been told that Kim has three children, including possibly a son. If this is true, and if we assume that the male child — who has yet to be revealed — will be the heir, is Ju Ae truly Kim's most 'precious,' from a succession standpoint?" said Soo Kim, a security analyst at the California-based RAND Corporation."I think it is too early to draw any conclusions.
Experts say the Hwasong-17 is North Korea's longest-range missile — designed to strike the mainland U.S. — but is still under development. Its launch was part of a barrage of missile tests that North Korea says were meant to issue a warning over U.S.-South Korean military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said that Kim Jong Un cannot make his son his successor if he thinks he lacks leadership. Cheong said Kim may be preventing potential pushback for choosing a daughter as a fourth-generation leader, so he likely brought her to a successful ICBM launch event to help public loyalty toward him be carried on smoothly to his daughter.
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