SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea leader’s teenage daughter Kim Jong Un It was her first visit to the tomb of the Holy Family, a move experts said cemented her status as her father’s potential heir.
The visit, which took place on New Year’s Day on Thursday, even sparked speculation that the girl, Kim Joo-ae, reportedly about 13 years old, could be appointed to a senior official at the upcoming congress of the ruling Workers’ Party.
Images released by North Korean state media on Friday showed Kim Joo-ae bowing deeply as she stood with her parents in the front row of Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of her late grandfather and great-grandfather are on display.
Chung Sung-chang, vice president of South Korea’s private Sejong College, said the palace was “a place that symbolizes the legitimacy of the North Korean regime” and that her visit to the palace before the Workers’ Party Congress was a politically orchestrated move.
Kim Jong-un, 41, is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea since its founding in 1948. He often visits Kumsusan Palace on important national anniversaries and pays respects to his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.
Jang predicted that Kim Jong Un might offer his daughter the post of first secretary of the Workers’ Party, the party’s No. 2 position, at the congress. Other experts said she was too young to accept such a high-profile role and would likely take a lower-level post.
The congress, the first in five years, aims to set new priorities for national policy and reshuffle officials. North Korea has not said when it will take place, but South Korea’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said it could take place in January or February.
Since first appearing in state media in November 2022, Kim Joo-ae has accompanied her father to a series of events, including military parades and missile launches. In September, Kim Jong-un took her to visit Beijing. She showed off their close relationship by kissing her father on the cheek during New Year’s Day celebrations this week. I am
In January 2024, the National Intelligence Service said it considered Kim Joo-ae to be her father’s possible heir. Some outside experts disagree with that assessment, citing Kim’s relative youth and the extremely male-dominated nature of North Korea’s power hierarchy. The National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in November that Kim Jong Un did not appear to have major health problems.
The revelation of young Kim Joo-ae surprised foreign experts because neither Kim Jong-un nor Kim Jong-il were mentioned in North Korean state media until they came of age. Some observers said Kim Jong Un may have been seeking to solidify public support for his plans to extend his family’s rule by repeatedly revealing Kim Joo-ae’s identity at public events.
