He just turned ten, is studying from home and in his spare time he skis or rides a horse. Is called Kim Ju-Ae and is the daughter of North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un. In the past few weeks she has made her first public appearances and has already attracted attention that is extremely “unusual” for a girl her age: that of the National Secret Services (NIS) of South Korea, eternal rivals of the peninsula who are already investigating them.
The reason? On February 9, Father Kim took her to a lavish banquet at a barracks in Pyongyang for the last major military parade in the capital to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the PyongyangKorean People’s Army.
Well, according to the rumors of international observers, these are clear indications that the girl may already have been introduced to North Korea’s military leaders as heir-designate to take her father’s place in the regime’s presidency, if the moment.
The hypothesis was supported by several clues: Ju-Ae first appeared in North Korean state media last November when she attended a test launch of the Hwasong-17 ICBM with her parents. Since then, he’s made six more appearances in three months and looks completely relaxed in all situations. Something that has never happened before: to this day, Ju Ae is the only one of the supreme leader’s three children whose face is known.
And as NPR reports, North Korea has even made postage stamps with photos of her and her father immortalized together at the missile test site.
The rumors about the possible “heiress” were enough to alert Seoul’s intelligence services, who have been investigating Kim’s family for some time and organized a closed-door briefing yesterday to take stock of the situation.
“They have determined that Kim is still too young and healthy to name his successor,” he reported – as reported by the Telegraph – Yoo Sang-Bumone of the South Korean politicians present at the meeting, from which the latest new details from the girl’s life would have emerged.
“The intention behind the frequent public appearances of the second son Kim Joo Ae appears to be an attempt to impose the legitimacy of the hereditary succession of the Kim bloodline,” Sang-bum added in a press interview.
Kim Jong-un’s family secrets
South Korean intelligence believes Ju Ae has an older brother who may have been born in 2010 and a younger one who may have been born in 2017. But none of this has ever been officially confirmed by Pyongyang authorities.
And that’s not surprising given the strict confidentiality that has always surrounded the Korean leader’s family. Suffice it to say that despite the public appearances, the North Korean media cannot even name Kim’s daughter, instead referring to her with phrases such as “beloved” and “respected child.”
But that’s not the most absurd news regarding Kim’s second daughter. In fact, according to some information revealed to Radio Free Asia by some anonymous North Korean sources, it appears that any woman bearing the same name as the child was forced by the North Korean authorities to change her name.
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