NORTH KOREA
\nNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un has selected his daughter as his heir, South Korea\u2019s spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday. Kim Ju Ae\u2013who is believed to be 13\u2013has in recent months been pictured beside her father in high-profile events like a visit to Beijing in September, her first known trip abroad.
\nThe National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it took a \u201crange of circumstances\u201d into account including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events\u201d in making this assessment. The NIS also said it would keep close tabs on whether she will attend the North\u2019s party congress later this month\u2013its largest political event that is held once every five years.
\nThe party Congress is where Pyongyang is expected to give more details about priorities like foreign policy, war planning and nuclear ambitions for the next five years. On Thursday lawmaker Lee Seong-kwen told reporters that Ju Ae, who was previously described by the NIS as being \u201ctrained\u201d to be a successor, was now at the stage of \u201csuccessor designation\u201d.
\n\u201cAs Kim Ju Ae has shown her presence at various events, including the founding anniversary of the Korean People\u2019s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected of her voicing her opinion on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being designated as successor,\u201d Lee said.
\nNews of Ju Ae\u2019s existence first emerged through an unlikely source: the American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who revealed to The Guardian newspaper back in 2013 that he \u201cheld baby Ju Ae\u201d during a trip to the secretive state. Ju Ae made her first appearance on state television in 2022. <\/p>\n
Ju Ae is the only known child of Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju. The NIS believes Kim Jong Un has an older son, but this son has never been acknowledged nor shown on North Korean media.
\nShe was shown inspecting North Korea\u2019s latest intercontinental ballistic missile while holding her father\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH KOREA North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has selected his daughter as his heir, South Korea\u2019s spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday. Kim Ju Ae\u2013who is believed to be 13\u2013has in recent months been pictured beside her father in high-profile events like a visit to Beijing in September, her first known trip abroad. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-531770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n