‘KIM’S MOST LOVED DAUGHTER’
The presence of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter at recent public events was likely an attempt to show her people that one of her sons would one day inherit her power as the family’s third in office, the president said. South Korea’s spy service to lawmakers on Thursday.
Kim has taken her daughter to three public events in recent months: a missile launch site, a photo op with weapons scientists and a tour of a missile facility.
State media called her Kim’s “dearest daughter”, sparking external debate over whether she is being groomed as his heir apparent, though she is believed to be around 9 or 10 years old.
In a closed-door parliamentary committee meeting, the National Intelligence Service said it believes that by taking his daughter to public places, Kim is trying to show the North Koreans his determination to carry out another round of hereditary transition of power.
But the South Korean intelligence agency said Ju Ae’s public appearance, the first for any of Kim’s children, does not necessarily mean that she herself will succeed Kim.
South Korean media reported that Kim has three children, born in 2010, 2013 and 2017, with the first child being a boy while the third is a girl.
In its earlier assessment after the daughter’s first appearance in November, the agency told lawmakers that she is Kim’s second daughter, named Ju Ae, and is about 10 years old.
The spy service assured lawmakers at the time that his appearance at the missile launch site appeared to reflect Kim’s intentions to protect the safety of future North Korean generations in the face of a confrontation with the United States.
Ju Ae is apparently the little girl that retired NBA star Dennis Rodman saw during his trip to Pyongyang in 2013. After that visit, Rodman told Britain’s Guardian newspaper that he and Kim had a “chill out time.” by the sea” with the leader’s family and holding Kim’s infant daughter, Ju Ae.
AN INHERITED POWER
Kim Jong-un, who turns 39 on Sunday, is the third generation of his family to have successively ruled North Korea since its founding in 1948. He inherited power from his father, Kim Jong Il, after his death in December 2011. Kim Jong Il came to power when his father and founder of the state, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.
The appearance of the young Ju Ae came as a big surprise to longtime North Korea watchers; both Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong Il made their public debut after becoming adults.
In 2010, Kim Jong Il unveiled Kim Jong Un, then 26, his third and youngest son, as his successor by placing him in a series of high-ranking posts.
The current leader’s half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, who was Jong Il’s eldest son, was once seen as a potential heir to the country’s dynastic leadership until he publicly fell out of favor in 2001 when he was caught trying to enter Japan with a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
In 2017, Kim Jong Nam was murdered at a Malaysian airport after two Asian women smeared the deadly VX nerve agent on his face. South Korea’s spy service accused Kim Jong-un’s government of being behind the attack.
Most analysts agreed that by taking one of his sons to events involving his arsenal, Kim was reminding people in the North, especially his youth, that his family’s dynastic rule and development of nuclear weapons would continue. in the next generation.
But not everyone saw Ju Ae’s presence as a sign that she had been elevated in the family. “It is premature to conclude that she will become her successor, especially if her father has a son,” said Ahn Chan Il, a North Korean defector who runs a research institute in Seoul.
Tae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who fled to South Korea in 2016 and is now a lawmaker in Seoul, told reporters that the world would know that Kim had chosen a successor only when the North began to idolize a particular child. like a god, as they did with Kim once his succession was formalized.
North Koreans take the Kim family’s hereditary rule for granted because they have never experienced free elections. They are less interested in who rules them, but more interested in who makes their lives better.”
Ahn Chan Il, a North Korean defector who runs a research institute in Seoul.
