North Korean Supreme leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter made a public appearance again, this time with missile scientists and soldiers after a launch of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an unidentified location in North Korea.
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| North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center right, and his daughter Kim Ju-ae, center left, with soldiers, pose for a photo, following the launch of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an unidentified location in North Korea. Source: Korean Central News Agency(KCNA). |
Pyongyang, North Korea (KCNA) —North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter made a public appearance again, this time with missile scientists and soldiers . Kim Ju Ae is only about 10 years, but her new, bold photos are deepening the debate over whether she’s being primed for leadership.
Kim’s daughter named Kim Ju Ae, was first unveiled to the outside world last weekend in state media photos showing her observing the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch with her father and other government officials. The daughter wearing a white puffy coat and red shoes was shown walking hand-in-hand with Kim past a huge missile loaded on a launch truck and watching a soaring weapon.
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| North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks away from an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with his daughter Kim Ju-ae in this photo released on November 19, 2022 [ Shadow News]. |
On Sunday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency mentioned her for the second time, saying she and Kim took group photos with scientists, officials and others involved in what it called the test-launch of its Hwasong-17 ICBM.
KCNA described her as Kim’s “most beloved” or “precious” child. State affliated media-released photos showed the daughter in a long, black coat holding her father’s arm as the two posed for a photo.
Some photos showed the pair standing in the middle of a line of uniformed soldiers before a massive missile atop a launch truck. Others showed Kim’s daughter clapping her hands, exchanging handshakes with a soldier or talking to her father as people cheered in the background.
According to experts, the photograph of Kim Ju Ae standing alongside her father while being celebrated by technicians and scientists involved in the latest ICBM launch would support the idea that this is the start of her being positioned as a potential successor.
In comments published by state media Sunday, Kim called the Hwasong-17 “the world’s strongest strategic weapon” and said his country’s ultimate goal is possessing “the world’s most powerful strategic force.”
Experts say the Hwasong-17 is North Korea’s longest-range missile — designed to strike the mainland U.S. — but is still under development. Its launch was part of a barrage of missile tests that North Korea says were meant to issue a warning over U.S.-South Korean military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
According to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, Kim may be signaling to other North Korean elites that he is mentoring his daughter for a role in the leadership. Giving her daughter such an early and public start is unusual but reflects the historical and political significance Kim attaches to a nuclear missile that can reach the United States.
Revealing the young Ju Ae came as a huge surprise to foreign experts, as Kim Jong Un and his father Kim Jong II were both first mentioned in state media dispatches after they became adults. Kim Jong II had Kim Jong Un in mind as his heir when his son was 8 years old.
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