N. Korea's Kim likely flaunting daughter at military events to elicit loyalty: Seoul

This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, April 19, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, and his daughter, Ju-ae, visiting the country's state space development agency the previous day. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has mainly brought his daughter, Ju-ae, to military-related events in an apparent bid to highlight his feats in the military sector and elicit the loyalty of the armed services, South Korea's unification ministry said Tuesday.

Kim's daughter has made public appearances on 15 occasions since she made her first one in November 2022, and 12 cases of the total, or 80 percent, were at military-related events, the ministry said, based on reports by the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper.

In contrast, she attended events related to the economy and social affairs three times, it added.

Ju-ae, believed to be around 11 years old, was first reported by state media on Nov. 18, when she, along with her father, attended the firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile.

Since then, her public appearances have been focused on the military field, including a military parade in February and an inspection in May of a facility to prepare the launch of the country's first spy satellite.

This photo, captured from the North's official Korean Central Television, Aug. 29, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, rigth, alongside his daughter Ju-ae, second from left, pointing to a blurred-out map of the Korean Peninsula during a visit to the North's Navy Command, Aug. 27, on the occasion of Navy Day that fell the next day. Yonhap

North Korean state media have carried a total of 107 photos featuring her. Of them, seven photos were placed on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun, and 80 photos, or 75 percent, showed her right next to Kim Jong-un.

Despite an increase in her appearances in state media, many North Korean observers see the possibility of Ju-ae becoming a hereditary successor as low, given the North's patriarchal society and the rumored existence of an eldest son among Kim's children.

South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Monday that it is "hasty" to judge that Ju-ae has been anointed as the successor, as North Korea, a male-dominant society, is "obsessed" with the Paektu bloodline of Kim's royal family.

"(Ju-ae's public appearances) seem to indicate that whoever will become the successor, the Paektu line will go on, and people are required to continue to show their loyalty," a unification ministry official told reporters. (Yonhap)

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