Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter were photographed trying out new pistols at a shooting range. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said that the North Korean leader rated the firearms “excellent”.
Though the state media report didn’t mention Kim Jong Un’s daughter accompanying him to the factory, pictures showed her firing a pistol alongside other senior officials of North Korea. Since her first public appearance years ago, it has been speculated that Kim Ju Ae, reportedly about 13 years old, is the North Korean leader’s potential successor.
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The pictures were captured during an inspection of a light munitions factory. Reportedly, after years of focus on nuclear weapons, Jong Un is pushing to modernise the conventional forces.
Kim Ju Ae made her first public appearance in November 2022, and since then, she has increasingly been accompanying her father to various public events, including factory openings and military displays. Last September, she also accompanied her father to Beijing for the North Korean leader’s first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in six years.
Reportedly, during their visit to the pistol factory, the father-daughter duo watched a test launch. The state media described it as “nuclear-capable cruise missiles from a naval destroyer”.
Last month, a state media report showed her testing a sniper rifle. It happened when her father was presenting the weapons to senior officials.
“As Kim Ju Ae has shown her presence at various events, including the founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected of her voicing her opinion on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being designated as successor,” lawmaker Lee Seong-kwen told the BBC last month.
Kim Jong Un’s family:
Kim Ju Ae is the only known child of Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju, who made a public appearance. However, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes he has an elder son, but Jong Un never acknowledged it. There are no mentions of a son in North Korean state media.
Ju Ae’s existence was first revealed in 2013. It became public when American basketball player Dennis Rodman told The Guardian that he “held baby Ju Ae” during a trip to North Korea.
(With inputs from AFP)
