Kim Jong Un Chooses Teen Daughter as North Korea’s Heir

A new assessment by the NIS on Thursday, Feb. 12, was more decisive, saying that he had chosen his daughter to take his place one day. The NIS said it took a "range of circumstances" into account when coming to its conclusion.

The NIS briefing on Thursday comes as North Korea prepares to hold its biggest political conference later this month, where Kim Jong Un is expected to outline his major policy goals for the next five years, The Associated Press reported.

During the briefing, NIS officials said they are closely monitoring whether Kim Jong Un’s daughter Kim Ju Ae appears with him before delegates at the upcoming Workers’ Party Congress.
South Korean officials initially didn’t believe that Kim Ju Ae would be chosen as Kim Jong Un‍‍`s heir, noting that the country is deeply conservative and has followed a tradition of male-dominated leadership. However, her increase in high-profile appearances prompted its reassessments.

Just last month, Kim Ju Ae joined her parents in public on New Year’s Day to visit Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a sacred family mausoleum that holds the embalmed bodies of her late grandfather and great-grandfather, the country’s first- and second-generation leaders.
Kim Ju Ae’s existence was confirmed in 2022 when she was seen with her father while they oversaw the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Next to nothing is known about Kim Jong Un’s two other presumed children. The first is said to be a son born in 2010, who has never been publicly acknowledged, and the third was born in February 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited from South Korean media outlets and intelligence officials. The Associated Press notes that some reports say his third child is a daughter.