Kim Jong Un attended a New Years Eve celebration at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang alongside his secretive daughter, Ju Ae, who is reportedly about 11-years-old
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was pictured celebrating New Year’s Eve with his rarely seen daughter Ju Ae in Pyongyang – who is widely tipped to be his successor.
The leader and his daughter, who is reportedly about 11-years- old, attended a show at the May Day Stadium, which was just her second apperance in public since November 2022, when she watched a long-range missile test launch with her father.
The girl has since accompanied her father to a slew of major public events, with state media calling her Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved” or “respected” child and churning out footage and photos proving her rising political standing and closeness with her father.
South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said that it sees Kim Ju Ae as her father’s likely successor, citing a comprehensive analysis of her public activities and the state protocols provided to her.
Du Hyeogn Cha, an analyst at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said that while the NIS currently sees a high possibility of Kim Ju Ae getting primed to become her father’s successor, few can predict whether she would eventually become the North’s next leader. Cha added that Kim Ju Ae lacks political achievements that he said are essential to be formally anointed as the country’s future leader.
Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, said that Kim Jong Un likely believes his daughter has the capacity and resolve to succeed him as leader. He said Kim Jong Un’s obesity appears so serious that “it won’t be surprising even if he collapses tomorrow.”
“By accompanying her father on major events, it’s like she’s learning kingship and building a human network at a tender age,” Cheong said.
NIS and officials from other parts of South Korea’s government earlier said it was premature to view Kim Ju Ae as her father’s heir, given Kim Jong Un’s relatively young age and North Korea’s Confucianism-influenced, male-nominated power structure. They had said the girl’s repeated appearances were more likely meant to shore up public support for Kim’s family and his plan to one day hand power over to one of his children.
Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family. Kim Jong Un inherited power upon his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011. Kim Jong Il took over power after his father and state founder Kim Il Sung died in 1994.
The name of Ju Ae matched what retired NBA star Dennis Rodman called Kim’s baby daughter, whom he said he saw and held during a trip to Pyongyang in 2013. The NIS told lawmakers in a private briefing last year that Kim Ju Ae has an older brother and a younger sibling whose gender the agency hadn’t confirmed.
