Defectors say Kim Jong Un is grooming daughter as successor

Eight of eleven North Korean defectors told the Associated Press that Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, is the likely heir to the nation’s leadership. The group believes the state is actively positioning the girl for a hereditary succession, a move that would make her the first woman to rule the country. South Korea’s spy agency recently shared this assessment, noting that the daughter appears in official media with a frequency and prominence reserved for future leaders.

The speculation centers on Kim Ju Ae, who is reportedly 13 years old. Since late 2022, she has accompanied her father to dozens of public events, including weapons tests and military parades. State media has labeled her Kim’s most beloved child. Photographs released by state channels show senior generals kneeling before her and the girl standing in front of her father, a visual hierarchy that analysts argue signals her status as a successor rather than just a family member.

Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London who defected in 2016, said the treatment of Kim Ju Ae follows the same protocols used for Kim Jong Un during his own transition period. He noted that officials repeat the specific behaviors they displayed when Kim Jong Un accompanied his father, indicating a rehearsed transfer of power. Kang Mi-Jin, who runs an economy analysis firm, said her contacts inside North Korea reported the same view over smuggled phones.

Kim Yumi, 32, defected to South Korea three years ago after her family’s fishing business collapsed under strict pandemic regulations. She said she fled to prevent her children from living under a fourth-generation dictatorship. Kim Yumi noted that ordinary North Koreans did not know about the daughter’s existence until Kim Jong Un introduced her at a missile launch site in November 2022.

Skepticism persists among some defectors due to the country’s patriarchal culture. Kim Jeong-Ah, a former army officer who resettled in South Korea in 2009, said her contacts find it nonsensical to revere a young girl as the supreme leader. However, Lee Si-young, who heads Free North Korea Radio, stated that the Kim family is viewed like gods, rendering gender irrelevant in the eyes of the public. Only one of seventeen department directors for the ruling Workers’ Party is a woman, Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong.

Analysts say the ruling elite and general citizens will passively accept a third dynastic succession. Oh Gyeong-seob, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, described the hereditary system as institutionalized, similar to presidential elections in other nations. North Korea’s surveillance apparatus, according to defector Jeon Jae-hyun, suppresses public discontent and enforces loyalty, making open resistance unlikely.

Kim Jong Un is currently 42 years old. South Korea’s spy agency assessed that he is extremely obese and at high risk of cardiovascular disease, though he shows no other signs of poor health. The next scheduled step in the succession narrative will likely involve further public appearances by Kim Ju Ae alongside her father, reinforcing the visual link between the current leader and the potential successor.

Choi Song-juk, who fled in 2015, now calls the earlier successions nonsense but acknowledges that the brainwashing was effective at the time. The country, established in 1948, has seen three generations of Kim family rule. The first transition in 1994 involved a two-decade preparation period. The second in 2011 was more uncertain, but the new leader quickly consolidated power through high-profile executions, including the killing of his uncle Jang Song Thaek in 2013.