{"id":92465,"date":"2025-09-02T19:37:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92465"},"modified":"2025-09-02T19:37:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:37:53","slug":"what-do-we-know-about-kim-jong-uns-daughter-and-potential-successor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92465","title":{"rendered":"What do we know about Kim Jong Un\u2019s daughter \u2013 and potential successor?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 31 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Kim Jong Un\u2019s arrival in China for his first ever multilateral meeting was always going to make headlines.<\/p>\n

But it was the smartly-dressed girl standing just behind him as he exited his armoured train which caught Korea watchers\u2019 attention: Kim Ju Ae, the North Korean leader\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

According to South Korea\u2019s spy agency, Miss Kim is her father\u2019s most likely successor.<\/p>\n

But details \u2013 including her exact age \u2013 are thin on the ground. So what exactly do we know?<\/p>\n

\"What<\/figure>\n

Miss Kim has, for a number of years, been believed to be the second of Kim Jong Un\u2019s and his wife, Ri Sol-Ju\u2019s, three children. The exact number, and their order, is by no means certain however: Kim is very secretive about his family, only introducing his wife to the public after they had been married for some time.<\/p>\n

Kim Ju Ae is their only child whose existence has been confirmed by the country\u2019s leadership. No other child has been seen in public.<\/p>\n

News of her existence first emerged through an unlikely source: the basketball player\u00a0Dennis Rodman, who revealed to The Guardian newspaper\u00a0back in 2013 that he \u201cheld their baby Ju Ae\u201d during a trip to the secretive state.<\/p>\n

Little was then heard about her until November 2022, when she appeared alongside her father at the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).<\/p>\n

By February the next year, she was appearing on postage stamps and attending banquets for top officials \u2013 described as Kim Jong Un\u2019s \u201crespected\u201d daughter.<\/p>\n

The adjective \u201crespected\u201d is reserved for North Korea\u2019s most revered. In her father\u2019s case, he was referred to as \u201crespected comrade\u201d only after his status as future leader was cemented.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/figure>\n

South Korea\u2019s National Intelligence Service (NIS) provided lawmakers with a few extra details on the little girl at around the same time,\u00a0according to news agency AP.<\/p>\n

They said she enjoyed horse riding, skiing and swimming, and was home-schooled in the capital Pyongyang. They suggested she was around 10 years old.<\/p>\n

By January 2024, the NIS had come to another conclusion: that the little girl was the \u201cmost likely\u201d successor to Kim Jong Un \u2013 although they noted there were \u201cmany variables\u201d still in play, not least because of her father\u2019s young age.<\/p>\n

Since then, she has appeared by her father\u2019s side on numerous occasions. Standing next to him at ICBM launches and military parades, she has taken centre stage and received military salutes from senior military commanders.<\/p>\n

But Tuesday marked the first time she has been seen outside North Korea, and the trip is likely to further fuel speculation she may succeed her father.<\/p>\n

The Kim family, who have ruled North Korea since 1948, tell citizens they hail from a sacred bloodline, meaning only they can lead the country.<\/p>\n

However, there is speculation that Kim has introduced his daughter at this point to try to overcome prejudice in the deeply patriarchal state, which has never been led by a woman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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