SEOUL - Sharing drinks, watching missile parades and dining with senior army commanders, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter took centre stage with her parents at major military events this week.
Her presence has added to speculation that she could be in line for a leadership position – maybe even the top job itself – in the nuclear-armed country’s hereditary dictatorship.
She appeared last Wednesday with Mr Kim at a massive military parade, where state media showed her marching with him and her mother Ri Sol Ju at the head of military commanders, sharing juice drinks and speaking in each other’s ears as they observed the events.
A day earlier, Ms Ri and her daughter were once again with Mr Kim as he wined, dined and flattered military commanders at a lavish banquet commemorating this week’s army founding anniversary.
“For all we know, this is just him doting on a favourite child, but the more she shows up, the more it seems that she’s either being fully groomed for leadership or at least floated as a possibility,” said Professor Mason Richey from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.
What is more clear is a message that the country’s nuclear weapons are for posterity, and she is a part of that, he added.
“So another way of signalling that denuclearisation is totally off the table,” said Prof Richey.
The girl has not been named in state media since she was first shown attending a missile launch with Mr Kim in 2022, but South Korean intelligence officials believe she is the daughter identified as Ju Ae by former American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who spent time with Mr Kim’s family in 2013.
Ms Rachel Minyoung Lee, a North Korea expert with the Vienna-based Open Nuclear Network, said it is premature to conclude that Ju Ae is being prepared for leadership, but agreed that her presence at exclusively military events suggests the main purpose is to underscore the importance of continued weapons development for the security of future generations.
“The North Korean leadership probably has to make the case for why the country has to keep investing in national defence in spite of the deteriorating economic conditions,” said Ms Lee. “And no propaganda can be more potent than the leader’s young daughter to convey that message.” REUTERS
