Kim Jong Un has been photographed firing guns with his teenage daughter as part of a drive by the dictator to modernise North Korea’s military.
Pyongyang propaganda published on Thursday showed the tyrant and his child, Kim Ju Ae, testing a “new-type pistol” during an inspection of a light munitions factory.
He said the factory played “a very important role in increasing the combat efficiency” of North Korea’s army, and hailed the firearm as a “really excellent pistol”, a regime mouthpiece reported.
Mr Kim also called for the facility to expand its production and ordered a new production line be established.
In photos, both the dictator and his daughter could be seen in black leather jackets firing guns, with the girl doing so alongside senior military figures.
The visit comes amid a push to modernise North Korea’s conventional forces after years of focusing on nuclear weapons.
Last month, state media showed Kim Ju Ae testing a sniper rifle as her father presented the weapons to senior regime officials.
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And on Tuesday, the duo watched the test launch of what Pyongyang said were nuclear-capable cruise missiles, fired from a naval destroyer.
Since her debut in November 2022, speculation has mounted that Kim Ju Ae is being groomed for future leadership.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it believes the girl, thought to be around 13 years old, is already providing input on policy matters.
The teenager has been increasingly visible over the last year, attending missile launches alongside her father and, in 2025, at China’s “Victory Day” parade, which marked her international debut.
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The agency concluded, therefore, that she “was in the stage of being internally appointed successor”.
She has also accompanied her father during a number of high-profile visits, including to his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years.
North Korea’s military muscle-flexing comes after Kim Yo Jong – Mr Kim’s sister and senior official – threatened a response to US-South Korean military drills that got under way this week.
It has been reported that she warned the drills reveal the US and South Korea’s “inveterate repugnancy toward” North Korea, and threatened Pyongyang will “convince the enemies of our war deterrence.”
The 11-day US-South Korean drill that began Monday is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise and will be accompanied by a field training programme.
It comes after Mr Kim said last month that North Korea could “initiate arbitrary action” and “completely destroy” South Korea if its security was threatened.
He added that South Korea’s “complete collapse cannot be ruled out”.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung responded at the time by saying the value his country needs to espouse is peace.
