Kim Jong-un poses with "most-beloved" daughter alongside "monster missile"

WORLD  28 November 2022 - 11:09

Kim Jong-un has appeared in public with his “most-beloved” 10-year-old daughter for the second time in just over a week, deepening rumours he has chosen his successor.

The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried more than a dozen pictures of Kim and his daughter on November 26 at a ceremony celebrating the launch of the country’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Dressed in a black coat with a fur collar, the girl – believed to be Kim’s second child, named Ju Ae – can be seen linking arms with her father as they pose in front of the gigantic missile surrounded by uniformed soldiers.

It follows the first public sighting of the girl last Saturday, as they inspected the missile ahead of its launch.

Until then, North Korean state media had not mentioned Kim’s children, with last week’s report the first official confirmation that he had a daughter, experts said.

The Hwasong-17, dubbed the “monster missile” by analysts, is believed to be capable of reaching the US mainland.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim’s daughter’s presence was meant to portray the missile as “the protector of the future generation”.

“It looks like he will continue to parade his daughter on various occasions and use her as a means for propaganda,” he added.

The Nov 18 ICBM test was the latest in a record-breaking blitz of missile launches by Pyongyang, with officials and analysts in Seoul and Washington warning they could culminate in a seventh nuclear test by North Korea, which last tested an atomic device in 2017.

Speaking at the celebration on Saturday, Kim said his country aimed to have the world’s most powerful nuclear force.

He hailed the new ICBM as “the world’s strongest strategic weapon” and said scientists had made a “wonderful leap forward in the development of the technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles”.

The suspected ICBM reached an altitude of 6,100km and flew 1,000km.

It comes as the nuclear-armed state rapidly advances its arsenal while denuclearisation talks have stalled.

Caliber.Az