Pyongyang (North Korea): South Korea’s intelligence agency has told lawmakers it believes the teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is moving closer to being designated as the country’s future leader, potentially extending the ruling family’s grip on power into a fourth generation.
The assessment by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) comes ahead of a major political conference of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea later this month, where Kim is expected to lay out policy goals for the next five years and consolidate his authority.
During a closed-door briefing, NIS officials said they are closely watching whether Kim’s daughter — widely believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and around 13 years old — appears alongside him before thousands of delegates at the upcoming party congress. Lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the session, said the agency’s language has shifted notably from describing her as undergoing “successor training” to being in a “successor-designate stage.”
Kim Ju Ae first appeared publicly in November 2022 at a long-range missile test and has since accompanied her father to a growing number of high-profile events, including weapons tests, military parades and factory inaugurations. She also travelled with him to Beijing last September for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Speculation intensified after she joined her parents on New Year’s Day at Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a mausoleum housing the embalmed bodies of her grandfather Kim Jong Il and great-grandfather Kim Il Sung. Analysts say the symbolic visit to the shrine of North Korea’s first- and second-generation leaders could signal preparations for a formal succession narrative.
North Korean state media have not officially named the girl, referring to her only as Kim’s “respected” or “most beloved” child. The belief that she is Kim Ju Ae stems from comments made by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who recalled holding Kim’s baby daughter during a 2013 visit to Pyongyang. South Korean intelligence officials estimate she was born that year.
Since its founding in 1948, North Korea has been ruled exclusively by male members of the Kim family. Kim Jong Un himself was named heir in 2010 and assumed power after his father’s death in 2011.
Experts say the upcoming party congress could offer subtle clues about succession plans. While some analysts speculate she could eventually be elevated to a senior party post, others note that party rules require members to be at least 18 years old, making any formal appointment unlikely in the immediate term.
Observers suggest that signals of succession may instead come through official rhetoric emphasizing the continuity of the “revolution” and the stability of dynastic leadership, reinforcing the image of a carefully managed transition within one of the world’s most secretive political systems
