This was the third time she had been at her father’s side for an ICBM test.
While children in North Korea spent all day at school, the young daughter of leader Kim Jong Un watched with her father a test of a new missile designed to destroy a US city in a nuclear strike.
North Korea has not said whether it has any siblings. Her age remains a mystery. The world doesn’t even know her name officially, and yet she’s been a staple of the state’s propaganda apparatus since November. She has appeared at her father’s side as he fires guns, dines with generals, and leads parades with thousands of goose-stepping soldiers.
State media on Friday released the latest photos of what they have dubbed the “precious child” and “respected daughter” — named Ju Ae, according to South Korea’s spy agency, and perhaps about 10 years old.
Dressed all in black and with long curls, she sits next to her father who has a cigarette in hand and seems to be watching a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile hurtling through the sky.
This was the third time she had been at her father’s side for an ICBM test. She was also a guest of honor when she and her mother stood next to Kim at a top military brass banquet in February that coincided with a massive military parade through the streets of Pyongyang. She briefly took center stage during the parade, revealing a more human side to her father, who was derided in the West as a ruthless dictator, as she stroked his cheek in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands.
Until the daughter’s appearance, North Korea had not previously informed the public about the descendants of its leaders until they came of age and took up positions in the state apparatus. But Kim’s daughter was celebrated about a week after her debut in the state media by thousands of fawning civilians and soldiers to celebrate the successful launch of the country’s most powerful ballistic missile. This led to “stormy cheers of ‘Hooray!'” according to an official media report.
Her debut came in mid-November when she appeared dressed in a white jacket and holding her father’s hand as they inspected a nuclear-capable ICBM. Then they sauntered under the morning sky with a towering rocket on a pad, waiting to explode.
While it remains to be seen whether Ju Ae is groomed as a possible successor, her presence at the tests has shown that the family dynasty that has ruled the country since it was forged in the Cold War clearly has a new generation waiting in the wings .
This is big. Kim decided to take his daughter to the Hwasong-17 ICBM launch day. This is the first time we see her appearing on the state media. pic.twitter.com/LNBKFGlI9C
— Jeongmin Kim (@jeongminnkim) November 19, 2022