North Korean state media have not revealed much about the lovely-faced young woman who has appeared several times with leader Kim Jong-un in recent weeks.
On New Year’s Day, state media make The photo is not dated of her and Mr. Kim to visit a nuclear missile facility. Her age and name have yet to be reported; she is simply referred to as Mr. Kim’s “most beloved daughter”.
That is enough to raise questions about the young woman’s place in the Kim dynasty and whether she was prepared for the role of Mr. Kim’s successor.
North Korea is not a monarchy. Its top leadership is said to be elected through the ruling Labor Party congress. In reality, however, the Kim family has run the county as a private family business since its founding at the end of World War II.
Both Mr. Kim’s grandfather and father ruled until his death. Mr Kim, who will turn 39 next Monday, has been in power for 11 years and is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon.
However, the question of who will inherit the regime — and Its rapidly growing nuclear arsenal – remains the subject of endless attraction among officials and analysts, especially when Question about Mr. Kim’s health appeared.
Speculation about North Korea’s succession plans spread as Seoul and Washington this week said they were discussion How to better deal with North Korea’s growing nuclear threat, using the full range of U.S. defense capabilities.
The recent guessing successor game started after North Korea launched the plan Hwasong-17 . intercontinental ballistic missile on November 18 at one of the country’s most important weapons tests.
The next day, North Korean state media reported that Kim watched the launch with his daughter, and released a photo of a girl in a white padded jacket, holding Kim’s hand as they walked around the testing area.
Days later, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service identified the young girl as Kim Ju-ae, the baby that retired NBA star Dennis Rodman said was allowed to hold when he met Kim in Pyongyang in 2013.
Ju-ae’s public appearance marks the first time Pyongyang has confirmed that Kim has a child. Until she appeared in state media, ordinary North Koreans had never seen any of Kim’s children.
South Korean intelligence officials say Kim has three children, of which the eldest is likely a son. Ju-ae is his second child, believed to be around 9 or 10 years old, they said.
Outside analysts are quick to note that she is described as “beloved” and has been chosen to represent the next generation of the Kim family. They were also intrigued by Kim’s decision to present her at a missile test site, highlighting the connection between the Kim family and North Korea’s weapons program.
Speculation surrounding the succession deepens when Ju-ae meets her father again, this time in late November for a group photo with rocket engineers. She was dressed more formally for the occasion, with a long black coat and fur collar, her hand resting on her father’s shoulder as he sat in front of a cheering crowd of engineers. The top generals bowed to her.
“These photos may be part of a carefully crafted program to show the North Korean people that Kim Ju is Kim Ju,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a longtime Kim family researcher at the Sejong Institute. -ae will become the successor.” South Korea.
If Mr. Kim chose a daughter over a son as his heir, it would be a highly unusual move in a deeply patriarchal North Korea. But Kim himself is an unlikely choice to be the country’s leader.
The youngest of three sons, according to analysts, Kim overtook his older brothers when his father, Kim Jong-il, recognized his authoritarian attitude and chose him as his successor.
And although the North’s leadership is predominantly male, the Kim regime includes a number of prominent women, such as the outspoken female broadcaster. Ri Chun-heeForeign Minister Choe Son-hui and Mr. Kim sister and spokesperson Kim Yo-jong, who has made a series of belligerent threats against South Korea in recent months.
Some analysts say that by revealing a potential successor early on, Mr. Kim may be trying to avoid the mistakes his father made.
Kim Jong-il appointed Kim as his heir when his son was still a child, but he kept it a secret from his inner circle. Many analysts have speculated that Kim Jong Nam — Kim’s eldest son and Kim’s half-brother — will become his successor. Others say the father would choose Kim Jong-chol, Kim’s brother. Some even think that the inheritance in North Korea will end with the death of Kim Jong-il.
Only after the father suffered a stroke in 2008, North Korea start hinting that Mr. Kim is the chosen successor. Ordinary North Koreans had never seen him until he appeared in state media in 2010.
When his father passed away in 2011, there were many doubtsat home and abroad about Kim’s leadership ability. It took many years before he founded authority unchallenged through a series bloody purgeinclude the execution of his own uncle and assassination of his half-brother.
After coming to power, Mr. Kim has made his government and family less secretive. His father is famous for living with beautiful women, including Kim’s mother, but has never introduced them to the public. One of the first things Kim did as leader was to appear in public with his wife, Ri Sol-ju.
By disclosing his successor early, Mr. Kim can “give his successor enough time to prepare,” Mr. Cheong said. “He wants his successor to avoid the rushed succession process at home and the skepticism from the outside that he has had to go through.”
Most analysts agree that by bringing one of his children to events related to his arsenal, Kim is reminding the people of the North, especially its youththat dynastic rule and his family’s development of nuclear weapons would continue for the next generation.
But not everyone takes Ju-ae’s presence as a sign that she has been held high in the family. Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector who now runs a research institute in Seoul, said: “It’s too early to conclude that she will become the successor, especially if her father has a successor. boy.
Tae Yong-ho, former North Korean diplomat escape came to Korea in 2016 and is now a legislator in Seoul, told reporters that the world will know that Mr. Kim has chosen his successor only when North Korea begins to idolize a particular child as a divine figure, as it did to Mr. Kim after his succession was confirmed. awakening.
Mr. Kim has promoted and fired top officials like pawns on a chessboard, regularly reshuffled his government. Last week, Pak Jong-chon, a top military official, was replaced. Those moves leave observers conjecture, but such speculations are banned in the North’s heavily censored media.
“North Koreans take the Kim family’s hereditary rule for granted because they have never experienced free elections,” Ahn said. “They care less about who rules them and more about who will make their lives better than Kim Jong-un.”
