North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un has solidified his teenage daughter Ju Ae’s position as the designated heir to the country’s leadership, according to assessments shared by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) during a parliamentary briefing on Thursday.
The Kim dynasty has maintained absolute control over North Korea for generations, with the so-called “Paektu bloodline” forming the cornerstone of the regime’s ideological and personality-based rule in the reclusive state.
For several years, observers have viewed Ju Ae as the most likely successor to her father, a belief reinforced by her frequent appearances at major state events in recent times.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Ju Ae has now been clearly “designated as a successor”, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said after a parliamentary briefing with the spy agency.
The assessment was made “taking into account a range of circumstances — including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events”, he told reporters.
There were also signs that Ju Ae had started to weigh in on discussions of government policy, he said.
The NIS had previously indicated in 2024 that Ju Ae was emerging as the frontrunner, following her inclusion in a high-profile trip to Beijing alongside her father. That view gained further traction from photographs released before an upcoming major political gathering in Pyongyang.
State-run media outlets featured Ju Ae in January as she joined Kim Jong Un in paying tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the mausoleum preserving the embalmed bodies of her grandfather Kim Il Sung and great-grandfather Kim Jong Il.
The Workers’ Party of Korea is scheduled to convene a significant party congress later this month — described as one of the most important political gatherings in the country — where key directions on foreign relations, military strategy, and nuclear development for the coming half-decade are expected to be outlined.
South Korea’s intelligence officials stated they plan to closely observe Ju Ae’s participation in the congress, including the degree of ceremonial precedence and protocol extended to her during the event.
Some experts have speculated that she may receive appointment to the position of First Secretary of the Central Committee, which ranks as the second-highest role within the ruling party structure.
Ju Ae first came into global view in late 2022, when she was photographed standing beside her father during the test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Since then, North Korean propaganda has consistently referred to her using honorific titles such as “the beloved child” and “great person of guidance”—”hyangdo” in Korean—a phrase historically reserved for the country’s paramount leaders and those groomed for succession.
Prior to her 2022 debut, the only public mention of her existence outside official channels came from retired American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who met the Kim family during a 2013 visit and spoke of Kim Jong Un’s young daughter.
The NIS publicly identified Ju Ae as the probable next leader in 2024, a conclusion that surprised many given longstanding assumptions about the deeply patriarchal nature of North Korean society and doubts over the feasibility of a female successor.
Although Pyongyang has never released Ju Ae’s precise date of birth, most intelligence estimates place her age in the early teenage years, likely born between 2012 and 2013.
She has frequently attracted notice for her preference for high-end Western fashion brands, often seen wearing Gucci eyewear and Cartier timepieces during public appearances.
In several instances, Ju Ae has adopted elements of her father’s signature look, including black leather coats and dark sunglasses, creating a visual parallel that underscores her grooming for leadership.
Recent video footage broadcast this year captured Ju Ae joining both parents during New Year festivities in the capital, where she was shown affectionately touching her father’s face and kissing his cheek — an unusually warm and personal moment aired on state television, in contrast to the more reserved demeanor of first lady Ri Sol Ju.
