North Korea: Kim Jong-un's daughter 2nd appearance deepens succession debate

New Delhi: In what can be seen as an another revelation about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un priming a successor, his daughter named Ju Ae has made a public appearance yet again. The appearance of Ju Ae has led to many speculating that she could be the successor as her photos with missile scientists and titles as her father’s “most beloved” or “precious” child are deepening the debate about the same.

The daughter is Kim’s second child and is about 9 or 10 years old. It was the last weekend when her photos were unveiled in state media in which she can be seen observing the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch with her parents and other officials. She was wearing a white puffy coat and red shoes and can be seen walking with Kim behind a huge missile loaded on a launch truck.

Moving ahead, on Sunday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said she and Kim took group photos with scientists, officials and others who were a part of the test-launch of its Hwasong-17 ICBM.

Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, “This is certainly striking. The photograph of Kim Ju Ae standing alongside her father while being celebrated by technicians and scientists involved in the latest ICBM launch would support the idea that this is the start of her being positioned as a potential successor.”

“State media underscoring her father’s love for her further underscores this, I think. Finally, both of her initial public appearances have been in the context of strategic nuclear weapons — the crown jewels of North Korea’s national defense capabilities. That doesn’t strike me as coincidental,” Panda added.

Earlier, it was speculated that Kim has three children — born in 2010, 2013 and 2017. While the first child is a son, the third is a daughter. But, only the second child has been unveiled.