Kim Jong Un’s daughter is set to be unveiled as his heir at a landmark party congress this month and is already believed to be advising on state policy, according to South Korean intelligence.
Lawmakers in Seoul said the North Korean leader has effectively designated his daughter, Ju Ae, as his successor following a briefing from the country’s National Intelligence Service.
The spy agency said she has now been clearly ‘designated as a successor’, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after a closed parliamentary session.
The assessment by Seoul’s intelligence agency was made ‘taking into account a range of circumstances, including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events’, Lee said.
Analysts say Ju Ae’s designation could pave the way for her to take on a more formal party role, potentially even First Secretary of the Central Committee, the second most powerful position in the ruling Workers’ Party, at the upcoming congress.
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Ju Ae’s exact age has never been publicly confirmed by Pyongyang. While widely reported to be 14, South Korean officials believe she is between 12 and 14.
The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their ‘Paektu bloodline’ dominates daily life in the isolated country.
Ju Ae has long been viewed as the likely heir, a perception strengthened by a series of increasingly high-profile appearances alongside her father.
South Korea’s spy agency said last year Ju Ae appeared to be the next in line after she accompanied Kim on a high-profile visit to Beijing.
State media showed her in January paying respects with Kim at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of state founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il lie in state.
Photos released ahead of the rare political congress later this month have further fuelled speculation that a formal announcement could be imminent.
Pyongyang is due to hold a landmark party congress at the end of February – its biggest political event – where it is expected to lay out its foreign policy, war planning and nuclear ambitions for the next five years.
The National Intelligence Service said it would closely monitor Ju Ae’s attendance, as well as the level of protocol accorded to her.
Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
Since then, North Korean state media have referred to her as ‘the beloved child’ and a ‘great person of guidance’ – ‘hyangdo’ in Korean – a term typically reserved for top leaders and their successors.
Before her public debut, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited the North in 2013.
SOURCE: Dailymail
