Seoul, South Korea: Kim Jong Un's daughter made another public appearance, this time with missile scientists and more honorific titles as her father's "most beloved" or "precious" child. She's only 10 years old, but her new, daring photos fuel speculation about whether she's being groomed as a successor.
The daughter, believed to be Kim's second child named Ju Ae and about 9 or 10 years old, was first unveiled to the outside world last weekend in state media photos showing her observing the North's intercontinental ballistic missile launch the previous day with her parents and other older officials.
On Sunday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency mentioned her for the second time, saying she and Kim took group photos with scientists, officials and others involved in what it called the test launch of its Hwasong-17 ICBM.
KCNA described her as Kim Jong Un's "most beloved" or "precious" child.
Analysts say she is being positioned as a potential successor to her father. Both of her public appearances have been in the context of nuclear-related events.
After her first public appearance, South Korea's spy service says it assessed the girl pictured as Kim Jong Un's second child. The National Intelligence Service said her looks matched the information that she is taller and bigger than other girls of the same age. South Korean media had speculated the first child is a son while the third is a daughter.
North Korea has made no mention of Kim Jong Un's reported two other children. But speculation that the eldest child is a son has led some experts to question how a daughter can be Kim's successor. "I think it is too early to draw any conclusions," says Soo Kim, a security analyst.
Kim Jong Un may think his daughter's unveiling is an effective distraction while conditioning U.S., South Korea and others to live with the nuclear threat, an analyst says. "The spectacle of Ju Ae appears to eclipse the intensifying gravity of North Korea's nuclear and missile threat," she says.
Kim Jong Un calls Hwasong-17 "the world's strongest strategic weapon" in state media comments.
Experts say the Hwasong-17 is North Korea’s longest-range missile — designed to strike the mainland U.S. — but is still under development. Its launch was part of a barrage of missile tests that North Korea says were meant to issue a warning over U.S.-South Korean military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
“Kim may be signalling to other North Korean elites that he is mentoring his daughter for a role in the leadership,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said that Kim Jong Un cannot make his son his successor if he thinks he lacks leadership. Cheong said Kim may be preventing potential pushback for choosing a daughter as a fourth-generation leader, so he likely brought her to a successful ICBM launch event to help public loyalty toward him be carried on smoothly to his daughter.