Kim Jong Un Shares Spotlight With Daughter While Visiting Troops; Fuels Speculations About Successor
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shared the spotlight with his daughter at a banquet to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army (KPA), state media reported Wednesday.
The girl, believed to be Kim's second child, Ju Ae, was pictured at the Tuesday event alongside her parents and military officials. Some analysts believe it is a sign of the girl possibly being the Korean leader's eventual successor, according to AP News.
Kim's Tuesday visit to the military officers' lodging quarters came as North Korea seems to be gearing up for a massive military parade in the capital, Pyongyang.
Ju Ae, believed to be 9 or 10 years old, was also pictured sitting at the lead table's center — usually occupied by the leader — between Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju.
Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korean leadership expert at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, said Ju Ae's recent appearances in the media are part of an "active push" to raise her profile.
"Given these developments, there is no longer a question about whether Kim Ju Ae has been chosen as Kim Jong Un's successor," he told the Washington Post.
Earlier, Ju Ae was described as the "beloved" daughter in state reports. However, as pictures from Tuesday's lavish banquet were shared, the girl was given a new and upgraded title of being Kim's "respected daughter." The recent reports did not mention her name or age.
The girl's presence at such an event sends a clear message in the country which has seen an authoritarian family regime for decades, according to some analysts.
"By ostentatiously including his wife and daughter, Kim wants observers at home and abroad to see his family dynasty and the North Korean military as irrevocably linked," Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told CNN.
Ju Ae's previous public appearance in November also fueled speculations about her being groomed to be Kim's heir. She was pictured holding her father's hand at the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the time.
"By showing his daughter next to the ICBM, [Kim] is announcing to the world and his people that [North Korea] will never give up its nuclear program and it will be carried on throughout his lineage," Tae Yong-ho, a South Korean lawmaker who was a top North Korean diplomat before defecting in 2016, told the Washington Post.
Cheong said that North Korean state media also published pictures of the father-daughter duo a month after the missile launch. The girl was described as Kim's "most beloved" child in the report, CNN reported.
"Considering these, there is no longer any doubt that Kim Ju Ae has been appointed as the successor to Kim Jong Un, and it is necessary to pay attention to how this will affect North Korea's domestic and foreign policies in the mid- to long-term, and how North Koreans will accept the succession of the fourth generation," he said.
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