North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter Kim Ju Ae attended a military parade with her father, and there is talk that she has been chosen as the next leader of the country, writes the news agency Reuters.
Jong Un and her daughter attended the parade on the 26th of February, which was held in honor of the 9th Congress of the Workers’ Party. The congress is the biggest event of the year in North Korean politics, and analysts have been waiting for what news it will bring about possible changes in the country’s policy. North Korea’s state media KCNA did not talk about the teenager’s role in the parade, but her presence is likely to spark speculation about the succession within the North Korean ruling dynasty. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported in early February that there were signs of Kim Ju Ae’s involvement in political matters.
On the 22nd of February, the South Korean outlet The Chosun Daily wrote that NIS reported that the young woman had been appointed head of North Korea’s missile program.
Although there is no official information about Kim Ju Ae’s age, the teenager is believed to be around 13 years old, writes the BBC. The girl is the only child of Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju known to the wider public. The NIS believes that the couple have two other children, including a son who is older than their daughter, but they have never been mentioned, and the children have not appeared in North Korean media. The wider public also first learned about Kim Ju Ae from an unusual source – American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who had visited the North Korean leader’s family, told The Guardian about the baby in 2013.
The girl first appeared on state television in 2022,
when she and her father inspected North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile.
Reuters writes that Kim Ju Ae has increasingly participated in public events over the past three years, including missile tests, military anniversaries and major national events, and state propaganda has gradually made the young man more visible. Last September, the future leader of North Korea went on her first international trip with her father, visiting China.
At events, Kim Ju Ae often wears her long hair down, while this is forbidden to her peers, and is dressed in expensive designer clothes, which is an unattainable dream for most of the country’s population, writes the BBC. The reins of power in North Korea have been passed down through the Kim family for three generations, and it is currently believed that Kim Jong Un will hand over the leadership position to his daughter.
The choice of a daughter as successor has also raised questions about why, given North Korea’s rigidly patriarchal society, a daughter was chosen over an eldest son. Experts have previously regularly dismissed the idea that a woman could lead North Korea. However, Kim Jong Un’s sister, who holds a high position in the Central Committee of the country’s Workers’ Party, has also set a precedent and is reported to have significant influence over her brother.
It is not known why Kim Jong Un, who is not even middle-aged, has already chosen a successor, nor is it clear what his daughter’s rise to power could bring to the country.
When Kim Jong Un took power from his father, many in the country hoped that the young man, educated in the West, would change the country’s policies, but that never happened. Whatever the girl’s plans for North Korea may be, they will have to wait until she is in power alone.
Meanwhile social media users took on to make official state videos in to the memes.
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