The daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made her international debut at China’s “Victory Day” parade.
Arriving in Beijing with her father, state media photographs show Kim Ju Ae stepping off the train second in the delegation.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) has previously said it views Ju Ae, who is reportedly about 13 years old, as her father’s probable successor.
It based this assessment on analysis of her public activities and the state protocols provided to her.
Analysts have now said her attendance on a foreign trip confirms her as a likely “front runner” to become North Korea’s next supreme leader.
Who is Kim Ju Ae?
North Korean state media calls her Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved” or “respected” child.
South Korean media has previously speculated she is the leader’s second of three children, and that the first child is a son. However, analysts have questioned the credibility of the reports.
North Korea, which is one of the world’s most secretive nations, has not confirmed whether Ju Ae has any siblings.
It is thought she is the child who US basketball star Dennis Rodman called Mr Kim’s baby daughter after his trip to the capital Pyongyang in 2013.
Surprise reveal
Ju Ae made her first public appearance in November 2022, when she watched a long-range missile test launch with her father.
It came as a huge surprise to foreign experts as neither Kim Jong Un nor his father Kim Jong Il were mentioned in North Korean state media before they became adults.
Following her sixth public appearance in 2023, a North Korea analyst told Sky News there was a “theme” emerging.
Jean H Lee, who set up the Associated Press news agency’s first bureau in North Korea, said the events she has been attending tend to involve “weapons and missiles”.
She said the most striking images of Ju Ae are from when she attended a military banquet to mark the 75th anniversary of the country’s army last February.
“When you look at these pictures she’s front and centre. She is there. It’s like this tableau of father, mother, daughter. And I think what people noticed, of course, first and foremost was, ‘oh my gosh, he’s presenting his daughter’. What does that mean?”, she told the Sky News Daily podcast.
Mature and taller than her father
Already this year, Ju Ae has made six public appearances with her father.
In April, she attended the launch of a navy destroyer. Wearing an all-in-one outfit, she appeared more mature than previous appearances and was as tall as her father.
In June, Ju Ae accompanied her father inspecting a weapons factory.
In state media pictures of the event, which are carefully selected for publication, she was standing prominently in the foreground.
How likely is she to succeed her father?
Mr Kim likely believes his daughter has the capacity and resolve to succeed him as leader, according to an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea.
“By accompanying her father on major events, it’s like she’s learning kingship and building a human network at a tender age,” Cheong Seong-Chang said.
However, South Korea’s intelligence service has a patchy record when it comes to confirming developments in its neighbouring country.
North Korean state media has also never officially confirmed or commented on the succession plan.
In the past, the NIS and other South Korean government officials have warned it was too early to view Ju Ae as her father’s heir, given Mr Kim’s relatively young age of 41.
It has also cited North Korea’s male-dominated power structure. Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been ruled by successive male members of the Kim family.
Kim may want to portray his family as ‘being like the British royals’
Speaking on Sky’s Daily podcast in 2023, analyst Ms Lee said Ju Ae’s appearances are a “cultivation of the Kim family, monarchy and dynasty”.
“I’m sure there is in some part a strategy of trying to portray themselves, kind of like the Royal Family in the United Kingdom,” she said.
