The daughter of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un made her worldwide debut at China’s “Victory Day” parade.
Arriving in Beijing together with her father, state media images present Kim Ju Ae stepping off the practice second within the delegation.
The South Korean Nationwide Intelligence Service (NIS) has beforehand mentioned it views Ju Ae, who’s reportedly about 13 years outdated, as her father’s possible successor.
It primarily based this evaluation on evaluation of her public actions and the state protocols offered to her.
Analysts have now mentioned her attendance on a overseas journey confirms her as a possible “front runner” to turn into North Korea’s subsequent supreme chief.
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Kim Ju Ae (circled in purple) arriving in Beijing for her worldwide debut. Pic: Reuters
Who’s Kim Ju Ae?
North Korean state media calls her Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved” or “respected” youngster.
South Korean media has beforehand speculated she is the chief’s second of three youngsters, and that the primary youngster is a son. Nonetheless, analysts have questioned the credibility of the experiences.
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Father and daughter are pictured inspecting North Korea’s first navy reconnaissance satellite tv for pc in Might 2023. Pic: Reuters
North Korea, which is likely one of the world’s most secretive nations, has not confirmed whether or not Ju Ae has any siblings.
It’s thought she is the kid who US basketball star Dennis Rodman referred to as Mr Kim’s child daughter after his journey to the capital Pyongyang in 2013.
Shock reveal
Ju Ae made her first public look in November 2022, when she watched a long-range missile take a look at launch together with her father.
It got here as an enormous shock to overseas specialists as neither Kim Jong Un nor his father Kim Jong Il had been talked about in North Korean state media earlier than they grew to become adults.
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Kim Jong Un and his daughter at a take a look at launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in April 2023. Pic: Reuters
She mentioned probably the most placing photos of Ju Ae are from when she attended a navy banquet to mark the seventy fifth anniversary of the nation’s military final February.
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Kim Jong Un and his daughter in January 2024. Pic: Reuters
Mature and taller than her father
Already this yr, Ju Ae has made six public appearances together with her father.
In April, she attended the launch of a navy destroyer, the place she appeared extra mature than earlier appearances and was as tall as her father.
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Kim Jong Un together with his daughter in April this yr. Pic: Reuters
In June, Ju Ae accompanied her father inspecting a weapons manufacturing facility.
In state media footage of the occasion, that are rigorously chosen for publication, she was standing prominently within the foreground.
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The pair in June 2025. Pic: Reuters
She has additionally accompanied her father to the official opening of the Wonsan vacation resort on the east coast of the nation, a live performance and on a go to to the Russian tradition minister Olga Lyubimova.
How doubtless is she to succeed her father?
Mr Kim doubtless believes his daughter has the capability and resolve to succeed him as chief, in line with an analyst on the personal Sejong Institute in South Korea.
“By accompanying her father on major events, it’s like she’s learning kingship and building a human network at a tender age,” Cheong Seong-Chang mentioned.
Nonetheless, South Korea’s intelligence service has a patchy file with regards to confirming developments in its neighbouring nation.
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Pic: Reuters
North Korean state media has additionally by no means formally confirmed or commented on the succession plan.
Previously, the NIS and different South Korean authorities officers have warned it was too early to view Ju Ae as her father’s inheritor, given Mr Kim’s comparatively younger age of 41.
It has additionally cited North Korea’s male-dominated energy construction. Since its basis in 1948, North Korea has been dominated by successive male members of the Kim household.
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Kim might wish to painting his household as ‘being just like the British royals’
Talking on Sky’s Each day podcast in 2023, analyst Ms Lee mentioned Ju Ae’s appearances are a “cultivation of the Kim family, monarchy and dynasty”.
“I’m sure there is in some part a strategy of trying to portray themselves, kind of like the Royal Family in the United Kingdom,” she mentioned.
