Precious Daughter Kim Ju Ae
Kim Ju-ae is the daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol-ju. She was born around 2012–2013 and is the only child of Kim Jong Un known to have appeared in public. Kim Ju Ae is thought to be the North Korean leader's second oldest child and was believed to be about 10 years of age as of 2023. The North Korean leader is extremely secretive about his family - even his wife Ri Sol Ju was kept a secret until some time after the pair married. South Korean intelligence officials speculated that Kim married Ri-Sol-ju in 2009 and that the couple has one son and two daughters, born in 2010, 2013 and 2017.
Little is known about Kim Ju Ae or her siblings. Ju Ae was thought to be aged about nine in 2023 and was the second of Mr Kim's rumored three children.
The first time Miss Kim's existence was ever mentioned was in 2013, after retired American basketball star Dennis Rodman made a controversial trip to North Korea. Rodman said he had spent time with Mr Kim's family, relaxing by the sea and had "held their baby". NBA star Dennis Rodman — a regular visitor to North Korea and friend of its mercurial leader — first revealed Kim's daughter's name after the two families went on a trip together in 2013. In an interview with The Guardian that same year, Rodman dropped the name of the North Korean leader's baby girl almost by accident. "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," he said.
There has been speculation in the past that Kim Jong Un has experienced medical complaints and appears overweight in news footage. His own father, Kim Jong Il, also reportedly suffered from a number of lifestyle-related illnesses, including high blood pressure, gout and diabetes, and died at the age of 70. Kim Jong Un may be hoping that by marking a clear line of succession while he is still young, this will help Kim Ju Ae to smoothly assume the leadership of North Korea when the time comes.
But Kim Ju Ae assuming her father's position is not a foregone conclusion, as it would require an unheard-of change in attitudes in the North's male-dominated society and would almost certainly trigger resistance from the overwhelmingly male senior ranks of the nation's military and political worlds. However, only Kim himself knows whether he intends to one day make his daughter the leader of the isolated nation.
Since late 2022, Kim repeatedly appeared with Precious Daughter Kim Ju Ae in public, leading to speculation that he might be grooming her to one day rule the country. But others said that was not likely, citing North Korea's patriarchal society and the belief that he had a son.But analysts point out that there are plenty of other scenarios that are equally plausible.
Like a proud father, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has shown off his oldest daughter via the regime's media, holding her hand in the shadow of a missile at a launch site in November and subsequently having her stand at his shoulder in front of massed ranks of loyal troops. The North Korean dictator had been seen in public with his daughter, giving rise to speculation that she might be his heir. Her appearance alongside the head of the world's sole Communist dynasty prompted the South Korean intelligence service to conclude that Kim is demonstrating he intends to keep the Kim bloodline in control of the isolated state for generations to come.
Kim Ju Ae first appeared in public alongside her father, the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, at the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on 18 November 2022. Kim watched the launch alongside his wife and their "beloved daughter," North Korean state-run KCNA press agency reported, without specifying the girl's name or age. Believed to be about 9 years old at the time, she caught the attention of the analysts and media, but there was little debate about her future role in a regime that is steadfastly male-dominated. Pyongyang hadn't publicly confirmed the existence of Kim's children until the missile launch.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chose the occasion of a strategic weapon test to mark the girl's first appearance at a public event. Photos from the event show Kim and his daughter standing hand-in-hand while looking at the ICBM and then walking away together. Another shot shows them strolling while looking at each other with the upright missile towering on its launcher in the background. Still more photos show Kim and his daughter watching from an observation shelter as the Hwasong-17 missile moves upwards in the distance. Another picture shows the leader sitting down and speaking as his wife and daughter look on from the side.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was in Lithuania to attend the NATO summit. called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council via video call. Yoon made clear that North Korea's illegal activities "come at a price," and called for stronger extended deterrence capabilities through the Nuclear Consultative Group between Seoul and Washington. The president also stressed that necessary military and diplomatic measures need to be taken.
South Korea's military said it is maintaining a full defense posture in close cooperation with the U.S. as well. It also strongly condemned the North's provocation, saying that it harms peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as internationally, and is in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
The launch came a day after North Korea threatened to take military action, after the regime accused the U.S. of quote, "illegally intruding" into the sky above its economic exclusive zone with a spy plane. Both Seoul and Washington, however, have denied the accusation.
The President of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, Yang Moo-jin, said the launch can be seen as the North's way of implying that shooting down a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft could become a reality. Military expert, Yang Uk, says that Pyongyang fired the missile to gain the upper hand, following its failed attempt to launch its first spy satellite in May.
In November 2022 the world was scrambling to find out more about Kim Jong-un's daughter. Intel authorities believed the girl seen holding hands with the regime's leader was his second child. Experts believed unveiling her like this was thought out strategically. South Korea's National Intelligence Service said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's daughter, seen holding hands with her father as he inspected the ICBM launched 21 November 2022, was Kim's second child, Kim Ju-ae. That's according to People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, who said that the NIS explained to lawmakers in a closed door Intelligence Committee briefing that her physique, thought to be big for a girl around ten years old in a naton of starvelings, matched prior information the intelligence agency had on her.
The daughter's public debut - taking place at a key missile test - suggested that Kim sees his family's dynasty passing to a fourth generation at some point and that Pyongyang won't give up its nuclear weaponry, analysts said. Jenny Town, a Korea specialist and senior fellow at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, called the scene of Kim and his daughter watching the ICBM launch "the optics of handing down a legacy." She added that "this is her legacy too now."
Other experts called the unveiling of Kim's daughter at a missile test "highly significant." RAND Corp. analyst Soo Kim, formerly of the CIA, told Agence France-Presse that the move showed "the permanence of the Kim regime's weapons program because it is so integral to Kim's own survival and the continuity of his family's reign."
In a briefing in early January 2023, the South Korean National Intelligence Service told senior politicians that by taking his daughter to public places, Kim is already laying the groundwork for what would be the third hereditary succession of power in Pyongyang. Kim himself took over from his father, Kim Jong Il, when he died suddenly in December 2011. Underlining the complications that are rife when it comes to claiming the leadership of North Korea, Kim Jong Un himself was for many years not considered his father's chosen successor.
According to the NIS briefing, Yoo said, Kim Jong-un appeared with his daughter in a show of his determination to "take responsibility for the security" of the North's future generations, a view that experts on North Korea share as well. "Pyeongyang is conveying the message that Kim Jong-un had secured the safety of the North's future generations and that he is looking after the security of the North Korean people as a whole as the leader of a more patriarchal, authoritarian society." Analysts also say their appearance in front of the missile conveys just how confident and relaxed the regime feels about its nuclear weapons program.
It may just be premature to single out who his replacement might be. "I find it hard to believe that this girl will be able to take over from her father, primarily because she is female," said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University and the author of a number of books on the Kim dynasty. "North Korea remains a deeply conservative and Confucianist society, meaning that Kim Ju Ae emerging as her father's successor is impossible," he told DW. "I think we have to assume that he will choose to pass control over to his son when the time comes, but he will definitely want the position of leader to remain in the family, to follow what the North refers to as the 'Paektu bloodline,'" he said.
Mount Paektu straddles the border with China and is where North Korean propaganda today claims Kim Il Sung, the founder of the nation and Kim Jong Un's grandfather, had his guerrilla base as he fought the Japanese occupiers of the Korean Peninsula in the 1940s. Other accounts say he spent most of his time in a camp in Russia for displaced persons until the war was over and he was installed as a puppet ruler of the North by Moscow.
Chun Su-jin, a South Korean author, cautioned that the chance of North Korean elites welcoming Mr Kim's daughter as their ruler is almost zero. "It is not ready to welcome a leader of the other gender," she declared. "(Kim) is just staging a show that he is a loving father, not just a brutal dictator who shoots missiles."
Seoul's Unification Ministry also took note of Kim's daughter who made her third public appearance on the North's state media 01 January 2023. Kim Ju-ae was seen walking hand in hand with Kim Jong-un at what appears to be a missile station. The ministry vowed to keep close tabs on future reports of Kim Ju-ae, who was presumed to be Kim's second child. South Korea's National Intelligence Service reported at the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee in early January 2023 that Kim Ju-ae's emergence did not necessarily mean she was his successor.
Kim Jong-un held a party with its military leaders on 08 February 2023, one day before the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army. He brought his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, to the celebration where she was welcomed lavishly. North Korean Central TV reported : "When he arrived at the building with his respected child, the defense ministry officials and military commanders welcomed them with the most ardent admiration."
Most noticeable throughout the party was their attempts to highlight Kim Ju-ae, the fourth generation of the so-called Baekdu bloodline. It was unusual to see Kim Ju-ae sitting between Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju in the seat of honor and looking straight ahead. This was Kim Ju-ae's fourth public appearance. Most North Korea experts believed the regime was showing off the girl to publicize that strengthening national defense power was necessary for the safety of the future generation. Some analysts projected the repeated and blatant promotion of Kim Ju-ae may have to do with Kim Jong-un's succession plan. Cheong Seong-chang (Sejong Institute) noted : "She was called the beloved child at her first appearance, but now it’s respected child fostering personal worship. The attention on her is an undoubted sign that she has been appointed as Kim’s successor."
As widely expected North Korea staged a massive military parade 09 February 2023 to mark the founding anniversary of its army. It featured the largest number of missiles in the history of its parades including what's presumed to be a new ICBM. North Korea's largest-ever military parade was yet another message of defiance against denuclearization, with the regime's newest missiles on display and the next generation of the ruling Kim family attending the night-time event.
One surprising factor was the attendance of Kim Jong-un's young daughter Kim Ju-ae, reported by state media. Experts said her presence reinforces the message that Pyongyang sees its nuclear prowess as the future for its younger generation, hinting it will not be scrapping its nuclear weapons program. According to state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the regime leader arrived at the venue accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol-ju, and their child. Photos released by the KCNA showed Ju-ae, presumed to be the couple’s second child, holding hands with her father as they walked on the red carpet while her mother walked behind them. Ju-ae was observed watching the parade festivities from a VIP seat, standing some distance away from her father as he reviewed the military.
This was the fifth time Kim's daughter had attended a public event since November 2022, when she first observed the test launch of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM). Asked about Ju-ae's latest public appearance, the unification ministry in Seoul said it was keeping an eye on the situation with all possibilities under consideration while acknowledging the prematurity of any speculation about succession. Kim Ju Ae had accompanied her father to five events, and still the consensus was that she could not be considered the heir in the isolated and impoverished nation.
Kim Jong-un was present with his daughter 26 February 2023 at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new street in Pyongyang. According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim attended the ceremony in Pyongyang's Sopho area. In a speech at the ceremony, Kim encouraged young people mobilized for the construction project to build over four-thousand homes in the capital city's northern area. The KCNA said that Kim's daughter, Ju-ae, also attended the ceremony, and he called her his "beloved daughter" without mentioning her name.
On 02 August 2023 Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to an event ahead of the 75th founding anniversary of the country's army, where he lauded his troops as the "strongest army in the world," state media reported. This was the fourth known public appearance of Kim Ju Ae, aged around 9 or 10 years old. She was dressed just like her father in a black suit and white dress shirt, and walked down the red carpet holding his hand. Her mother and Kim's wife, Ri Sol Ju, was also present. At the banquet held at the lodging quarters of the Korean People's Army's general officers, Kim praised the "irresistible might" of his nuclear-armed military, the official KCNA reported.
Miss Kim accompanied her father to the December 2023 launch of North Korea's Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the most advanced long-range missile in its arsenal yet. She was also by her father's side when the North launched its Malligyong-1 spy satellite into orbit in November 2023.
North Korean media have shown pictures of high-ranking officials bowing to Kim Ju Ae, with the gushing text describing her as Kim's "most beloved" child. She has appeared in a white parka and a long black coat with a fur-lined collar, showing some of the fashion sense of her mother, Ri Sol Ju, who is something of a style icon in the North. The two had been married in 2009 and that she'd given birth to a son in 2010.
She is always well-dressed in expensive clothes with her hair in place. At a 25 February 2023 event in Pyongyang, Kim Ju Ae, her father and several officials dug the ceremonial first shovels of dirt while dedicating a new street. But Kim Ju Ae was as immaculately dressed as ever. While Kim Ju Ae's public appearances have sparked rumours that she might be being groomed to succeed Kim Jong Un, the people of North Korea reportedly resent her. Kim Ju Ae looks all "plump and white", leaving starving North Koreans angry who barely manage to garner three meals a day.
A report by Radio Free Asia quotes people as saying how angry they get seeing Kim Ju Ae's healthy appearance and expensive clothes. An anonymous source told RFA, “It makes me angry that my situation is so hard to bear, and Kim Ju Ae, who we all know is eating and living well, is showing up on TV in her fancy clothes so often." She looks "so different" to the children of "common people whose cheekbones stick out from their faces even more than ever before", another person said.
Besides her "round and rosy cheeks", citizens also resent how she gets away with wearing anything she likes, while others in the country are punished for following "capitalist culture" when they grow their hair or dress up in fashionable clothes. “Kim Ju Ae’s clothing and appearance are completely different from what an ordinary teenage girl could get away with," one source told RFA.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service chief Kim Kyou-hyun gave the MPs the lowdown on Kim Ju Ae's lifestyle in a closed briefing. He said Kim Ju Ae doesn't attend regular school and enjoys horseback riding, swimming and skiing. In particular, there is information that Kim Jong Un is quite satisfied with her excellent horseback riding skills.
Kim Ju Ae's reference in state media as "respected" and "beloved" has sparked rumors that she is being groomed to succeed her father. The increasing amount of public outings with his wife and daughter mark a significant shift from Kim's earlier apperances and those of his father — under whose authoritarian regime the leader's immediate family was rarely seen.
North Korea's Confucian value system prevents a woman from ruling. Under this practice, the military would not take orders from a woman. "Many analysts have pointed to Kim Ju Ae's gender as ruling her out of leading the North, but I do not believe it is such an important issue," said Kim Sung Kyung. State media has time to create the image of Kim Ju Ae as both the powerful leader, associated with men, as well as a caring mother figure for the nation, she added. "I believe now that it is possible that North Korea's next leader will be female, but Kim Ju Ae's young age makes it just too early to say for certain," she said.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean economy and politics at The Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul, echoed that caution. "When it comes to her future role, we need to keep all possibilities open and take a cautious approach," he said. "Kim Ju Ae is only 10 years old. And while she is frequently seen with her father at military-related events, there is still little evidence to determine what specific roles she holds or will play in the future. Whether or not Kim Ju Ae remains a real potential successor will likely depend on the abilities and qualities she demonstrates in the future and the strategic judgement of her father."
Lim said it's likely that Kim Jong Un is at the very least using his daughter "to project the image of a responsible leader" and solidify his control of the nation. "There is also the aspect of showing off the fourth generation" of Kim family leaders of the nation to underline the strength and legitimacy of the lineage, he added.
Analysts previously believed it would be impossible for a woman to lead North Korea. But there is growing evidence that the "Morning Star of Korea" is the chosen heir to the world's only hereditary communist dynasty. North Korea observers have noted how Kim Ju Ae is referred to as a "respected" daughter, rather than a "beloved" one, as she was first introduced during her public debut in November 2022. The adjective "respected" is reserved for North Korea's most revered. In Kim Jong-un's case, he was only referred to as "respected comrade" after his status as future leader was certain.
South Korea's unification minister, Kim Yung-ho, told a press conference on 06 December 2023. "The continuous emphasis on Kim Jong Un's daughter can be seen as evidence that North Korea is hastening to showcase succession intentions amid difficult internal circumstances," he said. Minister Kim Yung-ho said at a media event that the North Korean leader appears to be "in a hurry" to put his daughter in the spotlight, despite her tender age, and prepare the nation for a third transfer of power within the world's only hereditary communist dynasty.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's young daughter, who has accompanied him to missile tests and military parades, is his "most likely" successor, the South's intelligence agency said 04 January 2024. Intelligence director Cho Tae-yong told broadcaster KBS that he believes Kim Ju Ae is indeed being groomed to one day take over from her father. This was the first time the National Intelligence Service had acknowledged Kim Ju Ae as Mr Kim's heir. Miss Kim had kept a high profile since first appearing in public in late 2022. "Based on a comprehensive analysis of public activities and the level of respect for Kim Ju Ae since her initial public appearance, at present, she appears to be the most likely successor," said the NIS. "But we are keeping our eyes open for all possibilities because Kim Jong Un is still young, has no major health problems, and there are many variables."
Cho said the North Korean propaganda machine has swung into top gear and is busily building a cult of personality around the girl, with domestic media now referring to her as the "Morning Star of Korea," a title that was previously reserved for Kim Il Sung, the nation's founder and her great-grandfather. Even those who had reservations a year ago are coming around to the idea that Kim Jong Un is laying the groundwork to eventually hand over the baton to his daughter.
"Previously, I was skeptical that the North could have a female leader, but gradually that has changed as Kim Ju Ae has appeared at more and more military events — which is extremely meaningful," said Kim Sung Kyung, an expert on North Korean society and culture at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. "Wherever Kim Jong Un goes and whatever he says is very carefully calculated for both the rest of the world and a domestic audience," she told DW. "At first, analysts assumed there was a political intent behind Kim's daughter appearing with him, but few considered it possible that this patriarchal socialist society would have a female leader."
One alternative theory that was put forward, she said, was that having a young girl accompanying the dictator would somehow soften his image, even when she was largely attending military events, such as missile launches or military parades. A growing alternative school of thought is that Kim is laying the groundwork for an eventual transition of power. These actions already have parallels to historic precedent in the Kim family, the professor added.
Ankit Panda, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace thinktank, said the image of Ju Ae standing alongside her father and experts involved in the launch "would support the idea that this is the start of her being positioned as a potential successor". He added: "Both of her initial public appearances have been in the context of strategic nuclear weapons - the crown jewels of North Korea's national defence capabilities. That doesn't strike me as coincidental."
Some experts, such as North Korea Leadership Watch blog founder Michael Madden, have expressed skepticism toward reports of Kim's alleged children, especially if it's claimed to be a baby boy, which he said would be announced. North Korea's hereditary, one-party ruling system and its adherence to a strict interpretation of patriarchal East Asian cultural tradition has dictated a need for Kim to produce a male heir.
It remained unlikely that any female Kim would ever take over as Supreme leader. "Only if Kim Jong Un does not have a male successor, that would create a possibility for Kim Yo Jong to inherit the top role in North Korean leadership hierarchy," Australia's leading North Korean expert, Leonid Petrov, at the International College of Management Sydney and the Australian National University, said. "However, I think it's more likely that collective leadership will succeed Kim with some of his female relatives to be added to the circle of decision-makers for the sake of adding legitimacy."
On May 9, 2025, Kim Ju Ae made her first-ever appearance at an official diplomatic event when she accompanied her father Kim Jong Un as he paid a visit to the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II. Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reporting on the embassy visit, for the first time referred to Kim Ju Ae as Kim Jong Un's "most beloved daughter."
