With her braids neatly pinned up, she could be any other ten-year-old girl proudly watching her father at work.
His dad gazes thoughtfully at his polished wood desk, pondering the task ahead.
But this is no anonymous office in one of the world’s drab urban districts, and this is no ordinary family scene.
Kim Ju Ae is watching her father, Kim Jong Un, in a mock North Korean fire assault: his henchmen stage an attack on their hated neighbors to the south.
If international rumors are to be believed, she could one day be this dutiful daughter in the dock, the mastermind of the invasion plans with her own military subordinates.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with his daughter Kim Ju Ae, at an artillery drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea.
Daddy’s Girl: North Korean Despot With Young Daughter Kim Ju Ae Who Might One Day Succeed Him
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a banquet with his daughter Ju Ae to mark the 75th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army.
The recent image of the young Ja-ae watching the drills will have raised concerns in the halls of the South Korean government.
But at least for now, she’s pretty much like any other girl aside from her famous father.
In fact, she appears to be considerably more athletic than her “old man”, with a great love for sports.
This week, the Seoul National Intelligence Service gave a closed briefing to South Korean parliamentarians about her.
NIS director Kim Kyou-hyun said, “It seems that Kim Ju-ae never attended a regular education institution and was home-schooled.”
And her hobbies seem to be horseback riding, swimming, and skiing.
The day before a military parade, Kim Ju Ae was photographed with her father at a large banquet.
“We have information that Kim Jong-un is very satisfied with Kim Ju-ae’s horse riding ability.”
He reported that Ju-ae was the second of three children, with an older brother and a younger brother whose gender is unknown. He did not confirm the rumors that the eldest son is not in public view because he suffers from a disability.
‘We are sure that Kim Jong-un’s eldest son is a boy.
“While we have confirmed the birth of a third child, the gender has not been confirmed as of yet.
“The son has never been seen in public, and there is no intelligence to confirm the rumors of physical or mental disabilities.”
Kim hardly ever appears in public with his children, so insiders believe it highly significant that Ju-ae has joined him at events no fewer than five times in the past three months.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae at a military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean military.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his daughter supposed to be named Ju Ae and his wife Ri Sol Ju, left.
She first stepped into the spotlight last November, wearing a white puffer jacket, red ballet flats and a ponytail, and grabbing Kim’s hand as they visited a rocket launch site.
Then last week, just the day before the military parade, she was photographed with her father at a military banquet where she took pride of place between the leader and his wife Ri Sol-ju, her mother.
Once again, little is known about who Ri really is. Some believe her name may be a pseudonym, though it has often been claimed that she is a former singer, a profession Kim has a penchant for.
The following night, Mrs. Kim respectfully walked behind her husband and favorite daughter along a red carpet to watch the parade.
Some believe it was an apparent act of deference indicating that the North Korean regime may be beginning to build a cult of personality around Ju-ae, as it did around the previous three Kims.
Kim Jong-un’s daughter’s face quietly revealed in North Korean propaganda, with her center seen
Kim Ju Ae, daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, attends a military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean military, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on February 8.
And, while North Korean state media did not even confirm Ju-ae’s name, the shifting adjectives applied to her (words that carry immense meaning in the North Korean hierarchy) are cited as further evidence that she has been chosen to succeed his father. .
Just a few weeks ago, it was ‘beloved daughter’, but just a few days ago it was upgraded to ‘respected daughter’, an adjective normally reserved for Supreme Leaders and their spouses.
Despite the regime’s communist claims, power in Pyongyang passes through a single family. North Koreans have been brainwashed since the days of the first president, Kim Il-sung, into believing that the Kim lineage is “sacred” and that only their omnipotent dynasty can lead the country.
The Kims claim to have what they call the ‘Mount Paektu lineage’, linked to a mountain in the north of the country where Dangun, the spiritual founder of Korea, a descendant of a god and a bear, was born.
North Koreans have been taught for decades to believe that the Kims have supernatural powers, and it was only in 2020 that Kim Jong-un authorized an official newspaper to tell gullible readers that he could not, in fact, bend space and time. .
If Ju-ae has been nominated to become the third descendant of Kim Il-sung to rule North Korea, then her appearance at military events is vital.
It will confirm to the vast armed forces of the country that she will be a worthy successor to her father.
The nuclear-armed tyrant spends a far greater proportion of his country’s budget on defense than any other country, even as many of his wretches face malnutrition and even starvation.
Kim himself may be chronically obese, a lover of rich cheese, and a chain smoker, but he’s only 39, which may make succession planning seem a bit premature.
North Korean experts suggest, however, that it is trying to avoid a repeat of the chaos of its own rise to power. Although at the age of eight he was privately endorsed as heir apparent and given a general’s uniform (military higher-ups had to start bowing to him), his status as the next Supreme Leader was not publicly confirmed until a year earlier. after his father died in 2011. And as a result, he had to move quickly and ruthlessly to consolidate his power.
Ju-ae is believed to have an older brother and younger sister, born respectively in 2010 and 2017. Since her father’s two older brothers were ignored after being deemed insufficiently brutal, it would hardly be unprecedented for her to return to happen. now.
North Korea’s state agency offers a clue as to why that may have happened, having repeatedly reported that Ju-ae is the leader’s “most beloved” son, as well as the “precious” child he cares about the most.
Meanwhile, like the rest of Kim’s family, whom she hasn’t executed in various sadistic ways, Ju-ae is understood to live a life of luxury and privilege that is inconceivable to almost anyone, not just ordinary people. North Koreans.
