Kim Jong Un appoints his daughter as his successor - South Korean intelligence agency
South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes that the minor daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been appointed as his successor, Reuters reported on Monday, April 6.
The NIS said its assessment was not based on circumstantial evidence but on what it called "reliable intelligence." According to it, the photo of the daughter on a tank is intended to highlight her alleged military capabilities and dispel doubts about a female heir.
"Such scenes are intended to pay "respect" to Kim's public military appearances in the early 2010s, when he was being groomed to succeed his father. The repeated presence of Ju Ae at defense-related events is aimed at reducing doubts about a female successor and accelerating the formation of a succession narrative," said ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sun-won.
The growing role of his daughter suggests that she is now considered the de facto second-largest figure in the DPRK leadership, Reuters reports. At the same time, some North Korea experts have urged caution in interpreting these images as evidence of preparations for succession.
Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that the mere appearance of Ju Ae in the tank is not enough to conclude that she has been approved as the successor. In his opinion, she appears next to her father, not on her own, in contrast to Kim Jong Un's personal military appearances during his formation as his father's successor.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on February 12, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that North Korea has entered the stage of appointing leader Kim Jong Un's daughter, Ju Ae, as his successor.