The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, has chosen his daughter as his successor, according to information provided by South Korea’s intelligence service to lawmakers on Thursday. Little is known about Kim Ju Ae, who in recent months has been photographed alongside her father at significant events, including the visit to Beijing in September, her first known trip abroad.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) stated that it considered “a series of circumstances,” including her increasingly frequent public appearances at official events, to reach this assessment.
The NIS also stated that it will closely monitor whether she will attend North Korea’s party congress later this month, the largest political event held every five years. At the party congress, Pyongyang is expected to provide more details about its priorities for the next five years, including foreign policy, war planning, and nuclear ambitions.
North Korea: Ju Ae “trained” to become successor
On Thursday, lawmaker Lee Seong-kwen told reporters that Ju Ae, who had previously been described by the NIS as being “trained” to become a successor, is now at the stage of being “appointed” as successor, according to the BBC. “As Kim Ju Ae has appeared at various events, including the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected that she expresses her views on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being appointed as successor,” Lee said.
Ju Ae is the only known child of Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju. The NIS believes that Kim Jong Un has an older son, but this son has never been acknowledged or appeared in North Korean media. News of Ju Ae’s existence first became known from an unexpected source: American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who revealed to The Guardian in 2013 that he “held little Ju Ae in his arms” during a trip to the country. Ju Ae, who is believed to be 13 years old, made her first appearance on state television in 2022. She appeared inspecting North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile, holding her father’s hand. Since then, she appears frequently in state media, softening her father’s image as a ruthless dictator. She accompanied him to Beijing for the largest military parade ever held in China, where she was seen stepping off his armored train at Beijing’s railway station.
We often see her with long hair, which is forbidden for her peers, and wearing designer clothes that are unaffordable for most in her country. Another lawmaker, Park Sun-won, stated that the role Ju Ae has taken on during public events suggests she has begun contributing to policy-making and is treated as the de facto second most important leader.
Power in North Korea has passed through three generations of the Kim family and it is widely accepted that Kim Jong Un will pass the throne to Ju Ae. In recent months she has appeared standing taller than her father, walking beside him rather than following him. In North Korea, where photographs published by state media are considered to carry great symbolic weight, it is rare for other individuals besides Kim Jong Un to appear in equally prominent positions in the frame.
Questions
Although South Korea’s intelligence service now believes that Ju Ae is the successor, questions remain.
Why would Ju Ae, a daughter, be chosen as successor over an older son in North Korea’s deeply patriarchal society?
Many defectors and analysts had previously dismissed the idea of a woman leading North Korea as an unlikely scenario, referring to the country’s entrenched traditional gender roles. However, Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, provides a precedent for female power in the regime. Kim Yo Jong currently holds a high position in the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and reportedly wields influence over her brother.
However, it remains a mystery why Kim Jong Un, who is still young and appears relatively healthy, is already designating a 13-year-old child as his successor. It is not clear what changes Ju Ae’s succession might bring to North Korea.
Many North Koreans hoped that Kim Jong Un, a young man with Western education, would open their country to the outside world when he succeeded his father. However, this hope was not realized. Whatever this teenager’s plans for her country, she will likely have exclusive power to shape them as she wishes.
