SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The teenage daughter of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un Jong U she made her first known visit to a sacred family mausoleum, a move that experts say strengthened 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, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and aged around 13, could be named a high-level official at the next congress of the ruling Workers’ Party.
Images released by North Korean state media on Friday showed Kim Ju Ae standing in the front row with her parents and bowing deeply to Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, where the embalmed bodies of her grandfather and great-grandfather are on display.
The palace is “a place that symbolizes the legitimacy of the North Korean regime” and her visit there before the Workers’ Party congress is a politically orchestrated move, said Cheong Seong-Chang, deputy head of the private Sejong Institute in South Korea.
Kim Jong Un, 41, is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea since the country’s founding in 1948. He often marks major state anniversaries by visiting Kumsusan palace and paying respects to his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.
Cheong predicted that Kim Jong Un could give his daughter the first post of secretary in the Workers’ Party, the party’s second job, in congress. Other experts say she is too young to accept such a high-profile post and could be supplied with lower-level jobs.
The congress, the first of its kind in five years, is intended to set new priorities in state policies and change officials. North Korea has not said when it will hold it, but the National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s spy agency, said it would likely be held either in January or February.
Since she first appeared in state media in November 2022, Kim Ju Ae has accompanied her father to numerous events including military parades and missile launches. In September, Kim Jong Un brought it on his trip to Beijing. During the New Year’s Day celebrations this week, she kissed her father on the cheek, showing their closeness. I am
In January 2024, the NIS said it considered Kim Ju Ae as her father’s likely heir. Some foreign experts disagree with that assessment, citing Kim Jong Un’s relatively young age and the extremely male-dominated nature of North Korea’s power hierarchy. The NIS told lawmakers in November that Kim appeared to have no major health problems.
The unveiling of the young Kim Ju Ae came as a surprise to foreign experts because neither Kim Jong Un nor Kim Jong Il were mentioned in North Korean state media until they became adults. Some observers say Kim Jong Un likely aimed to bolster public support for his plan to extend family rule by repeatedly revealing Kim Ju Ae at public events.