Ju Ae designated Kim Jong Un’s heir according to South Korean intelligence

The North Korean leader’s daughter, after her mission to Beijing, is being touted as the country’s next leader

SEOUL – South Korean intelligence believes that Ju Ae, daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is his official heir. This was reported by MP Lee Seong-kweun after a briefing with Seoul’s intelligence services.

The young woman, who was publicly introduced in 2022, accompanied her father on his first trip abroad, a high-profile visit to Beijing in early September, during which Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to analysts, the mission and North Korean media coverage complete the “succession narrative” that aims to legitimise her as the future leader.

Pyongyang media released photos of Ju Ae in the armoured train on her return from China, where, according to Seoul, father and daughter stayed at the North Korean embassy under strict security, including biometric checks. ‘The fact that Ju Ae received the same level of security as Kim Jong Un confirms her position as successor,’ Ahn Chan-il, a former defector and director of the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.

Ju Ae had already been described by the official media as the ‘beloved daughter’ and ‘great leader’, titles traditionally reserved for leaders and their heirs. Before her appearance in 2022, the only certain news about her existence dated back to 2013, when former NBA star Dennis Rodman spoke about her after a visit to Pyongyang.

For years, it had been speculated that Kim had a firstborn son, possibly born in 2010, but Seoul now considers this hypothesis unlikely. ‘Rumours of another child, perhaps with a disability or living abroad, are not considered credible,’ explained Deputy Lee, pointing out that it would be impossible to keep secret any studies abroad.

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