North Korea’s "first daughter": Everything we know about Kim Ju Ae Analysis by The Washington Post

According to an article in The Washington Post, analysts say the daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is strategically placed to promote the importance of military development for the future generations. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

North Korea’s “first daughter” suddenly seems to be everywhere. In November, she was out inspecting intercontinental ballistic missiles with her dad, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. This month, she’s appeared twice at celebrations for a major army anniversary.

The first daughter was further enshrined in the family personality cult Tuesday, when North Korea released eight postage stamps commemorating that November missile launch — five of them featuring the tweenager.

The prominence given to a child of the ruling family is a big change for North Korea. But then again, Kim Jong Un has broken out of the dictator mold set by his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, and his father, Kim Jong Il. Kim Il Sung didn’t introduce his son to the public until Kim Jong Il was in his mid-20s, then he spent a good quarter-century promoting the heir up the ranks.

Although Kim Jong Il announced his son as the third generation of Kims to lead North Korea in 2009, the successor’s visage wasn’t revealed to the North Korean public until September the following year. Kim Jong Un’s age — just 26 at the time — was going to be an issue in a society that adheres to the Confucian principles honoring elders (and patriarchy).

The third Kim has had no such reservations. He’s taken his middle-school-aged daughter with him to important military events, fueling speculation that he was setting the stage for her to be the next generation’s leader.

Analysts say it is still too early to draw firm conclusions. But here’s what we know so far about the increasingly high-profile daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

What’s her name?

Well, we don’t exactly know. Even when her face is splashed across North Korean state media outlets, they don’t publish the girl’s name. She has been referred to only as “beloved daughter” or “respected daughter” of Kim Jong Un.

But she is widely believed to be called Kim Ju Ae. The first source — and yes, it’s an unlikely one, but this is North Korea — is retired National Basketball Association star Dennis Rodman, who said he held Kim’s daughter during a visit to Pyongyang in 2013.

“I held their baby Ju-ae and spoke with Ms Ri [Sol-Ju, Kim’s wife] as well. He’s a good dad and has a beautiful family,” Rodman told the Guardian after the trip.

South Korean intelligence authorities have also identified the girl as Kim Ju Ae. The first syllable of her given name, Ju Ae, appears to come from her mother Ri Sol Ju, who uses the Chinese character for “main” or “primary.” The second syllable, Ae, is likely to come from the Chinese character for love, said Kwak Gil-seop, a former researcher at South Korea’s state-run Institute for National Security Strategy.

How old is she?

Er, we don’t know that either. But say she was 1 when Rodman held her in March 2013. That would make her 10 now, about to turn 11.

South Korean lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, after being briefed by Seoul’s spy agency in November, said the girl was about 10 years old. Yoo cited the agency as saying that Ju Ae is “quite tall and big” for a girl that age.

Ju Ae is thought to be the second child of Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju, according to South Korean intelligence officials. She is thought to have an older brother, born in 2010, and a younger sibling born in 2017, gender unknown. But as with many things about North Korea, this is just a best guess based on South Korean intelligence reports — which don’t always have a great relationship with fact — and analysts’ interpretation of Ri’s absences from the public eye.

If there is an older brother, that would raise the question: Where is he? As the oldest and as a boy, he should be the heir apparent according to Confucian hierarchies. But Kim Jong Il bucked that tradition when he anointed Kim Jong Un, his third son, as his successor.

Where does she go to school?

We don’t know that either. Kim Jong Un and his siblings had private tutors while living in Pyongyang, instead of going to school. But to give them an experience of “normal life,” Kim Jong Il sent his children to school in Switzerland for several years during their teens — all under false names. Kim Jong Un seems to be cutting off that option for his daughter by making her face known at such an early age.

Why her?

Described in state media as “the most beloved” child, Ju Ae appears to be very close to her father, with whom she held hands and shared the spotlight at major events.

“Kim Jong Un’s exceptional love for his daughter has long been famous among Pyongyang officials,” said Ryu Hyun-woo, North Korea’s former ambassador to Kuwait, who defected in 2019. He said the North Korean leader used to carry the daughter in his arms when she was young. Some of Kim’s aides posed for photos with the baby girl, according to Ryu, who said he saw such pictures.

When she made her first public appearance in November, Ju Ae was seen hand in hand with her father in front of North Korea’s largest ballistic missile. Dressed in a white jacket and red shoes, the daughter appeared to watch a missile as it was launched into the sky. She was also pictured shaking the hand of a uniformed soldier against a backdrop of applauding officials.

She has since been in the spotlight at events celebrating the country’s military, which has served as the mainstay of the Kim family’s dictatorial rule for decades.

This month, the daughter was seen at the center of the first family during an army banquet full of top military brass. Official photos of the event showed her in the middle, a place of honor usually reserved for the leader himself. Most recently, she was given a red-carpet welcome alongside her father at a massive parade in Pyongyang to mark an army anniversary.

Analysts say the daughter is strategically placed to promote the importance of military development for North Korea’s future generations.

How important is the family line here?

North Korea’s Kims have claimed their right to lead the country for more than 70 years now by saying they are the descendants of a sacred bloodline stemming from Mount Paektu, a mountain on the Chinese border that is of mythical importance to Koreans.

When Kim Jong Un was announced as the third-generation successor, North Korean officials “were filled with deep emotion as they realized he would carry forward the bloodline of Mount Paektu in its purest form,” according to the state media account. Earlier this month, when Ju Ae and the first family watched the parade from a balcony above Kim Il Sung Square, named after her great grandfather, troops marching through the square chanted: “Defend the Paektu bloodline with our lives!”

The parade also featured a cavalry regiment mounted on white horses, a propaganda symbol used to glorify the Kim family’s strength and authority. The narrator on state television referred to one of the horses as belonging to the first daughter. “With dazzling looks, the fine steed of Paektu heads the squadron, followed by the beloved daughter’s favorite horse as they lead the high-spirited parade,” the narrator said, describing the father and the daughter’s horses respectively.

So will she succeed her father?

The first daughter’s high-profile appearances have fueled speculation that she is being groomed as Kim’s successor. Experts are divided on whether a woman could ever become the leader of such a male-dominated society.

Ryu, the former North Korean diplomat, said a female heir is “unimaginable” for the Kim dynasty because it would deviate from the patrilineal succession of three generations. South Korea’s Unification Ministry said this week that it is premature to conclude on the young girl’s potential leadership capacity but said “all possibilities are open” at this point.