Kim Jong Un’s daughter makes an appearance, heating up North Korea succession discussion

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s child made another public appearance, this time with missile experts and more honorific titles. While she’s just 10 years old, the new bold photos show that they are attempting to deepen the debate on whether she is being prepared for her role as a successor.

This daughter, which is believed to be Kim’s second child, Ju Ae, was unveiled to the world for the first time last weekend. State media photos show her watching the launch of the North’s intercontinental missile system the day before with her parents and other senior officials. Kim’s daughter was seen walking hand-inhand with her daughter, wearing a white puffy coat with red shoes. She then watched a massive missile being loaded onto a truck and flew past the weapon.

On Sunday, the official North Korean Central News Agency mention her for the second-time, stating that she and Kim took group photographs with scientists, officials, and other participants in what it called the “test-launch” of its Hwasong-17 ICBM.

KCNA described her daughter as Kim’s “most loved” or “precious child. This title is more honorific than her previous description of Kim’s beloved child in its Nov. 19, dispatch. As the two of them posed for photos, the state media released photos showing the daughter in a long black coat with her father. She modeled her mother Ri Sol Ju’s style, which was not visible in any photos taken Sunday. Her appearance was more mature than that of her unveiling one week ago.

Some photos show the couple standing in front of a group of uniformed soldiers, while the launcher truck hurls a huge missile at them. Some photos showed Kim’s daughter exchanging handshakes and clapping with soldiers, while others captured her talking to her father.

“This is quite striking. Ankit Panda from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said that the photograph of Kim Ju Ae standing with her father, while she was being celebrated by scientists and technicians who participated in the latest ICBM Launch would support the idea that this could be her beginning as a successor.

“State media underscoring her dad’s love for she further underscores this, i think. Finally, both of her initial public appearances have been in the context of strategic nuclear weapons — the crown jewels of North Korea’s national defense capabilities. That doesn’t strike me as coincidental,” Panda said.

South Korea’s spy services informed lawmakers that they had assessed the girl in question as Kim’s second child. The girl is Ju Ae, and is only 10 years old. According to the National Intelligence Service her looks were consistent with information that she was taller and larger than other girls her same age. The National Intelligence Service also stated that Kim’s decision to reveal her face seemed to reflect Kim’s determination to ensure the security of North Korea’s future generations in the event of a standoff between the United States and North Korea.

South Korean media previously speculated Kim has three children — born in 2010, 2013 and 2017 — and that the first child is a son while the third is a daughter. This is most likely the daughter that retired NBA star Dennis Rodman viewed in Pyongyang in 2013. Rodman revealed to The Guardian, a British newspaper, that he had been with Kim for a “relaxing moment by the sea” and that he was holding Kim’s newborn daughter, Ju Ae.

North Korea has not made any mention of Kim’s two other children. Experts are speculating that Kim’s eldest child may be a son. This raises questions about how a daughter could succeed Kim, given the patriarchal and male-dominated nature of North Korean society. Kim is the third generation of the family that has ruled North Korea for over seven decades. His grandfather and father governed the country until he was able to inherit power in late 2011.

We’ve been told Kim has at least three children. 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?” Soo Kim is a security analyst at California’s RAND Corporation. “It is too early to draw any conclusions,” he said.

She suggested that Kim Jong Un might think his daughter’s unmasking is an effective distraction. This would condition Washington, Seoul, and other Americans to live with the North Korean nuclear threat. “The spectacle of Ju Ae seems to eclipse the intensifying gravity North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats.” She said that Kim Jong Un might also be trying to convince his people by dragging his daughter around that nuclear weapons are their only guarantee for the country’s success.

Kim called Hwasong-17 “the strongest strategic weapon in the world” and stated that his country’s ultimate goal would be to have “the greatest strategic force in the globe.”

Experts say the Hwasong-17 is North Korea’s longest-range missile — designed to strike the mainland U.S. — but is still under development. The launch was part a series of missile tests North Korea claims were intended to warn the United States-South Korean military drills it considers an invasion rehearsal.

Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha University in Seoul said that Kim may be signaling other North Korean elites that his daughter is being mentored for a leadership role.

He said, “Giving her such a public start is uncommon but reflects the historical significance Kim attaches nuclear missiles that can reach the United States.”

Cheong Seong-Chang, a private analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, stated that Kim Jong Un cannot choose his son as his successor if it is not clear that he lacks leadership. Cheong suggested that Kim might be avoiding any pushback to make his son a fourth-generation leader. He likely brought her along to a successful ICBM launch to show public loyalty to him.

Cheong stated that “When a King has many children, it is natural for him to choose his most beloved child as his successor.” Kim Ju Ae is expected occasionally to Kim Jong Un’s public events. He will also be taking succession training.

Foreign experts were surprised to discover that Ju Ae, the young man, was revealed. Kim Jong Un’s father Kim Jong Il and his son Ju Ae were both mentioned first in state media dispatches when they became adults. Cheong said that Kim Jong Il had Kim Jong Un as his heir at the age of 8 years. Cheong spoke of his conversations with Kim Jong Un’s aunt, and her husband who fled to America.

Ju Ae’s age of 10 could be explained by the South Korean spy agency. He was born in 2013, but the country’s system of age-calculating is able to make people look one or two more years older.