Kim Ju Ae: Could Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter become North Korea’s next leader?
Image source, KCNA VIA KNS via AFP
By Jake Kwon, Seoul correspondent, and Lee Hyun Choi, Reporting from Seoul
As North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un warned Seoul and pledged to keep expanding his sanctioned nuclear arsenal at the party congress, the burning question was whether his 13-year-old daughter would be anointed as his heir.
That clear indication did not materialize this week, but it sparked a debate about the young Kim Ju Ae’s viability as the future head of a country with about 25 million people and a regime that has been ruled by members of the Kim family for decades.
The party congress, a crucial gathering of North Korea’s leaders and officials held every five years, is typically a barometer for Kim’s messages to Seoul and Washington. This time, attention shifted away from the usual military and diplomatic signals.
Last week, Seoul’s intelligence agency briefed lawmakers that it believes Kim has chosen his daughter as heir and that she has been invited to share her views on policy matters.
Although she is increasingly visible beside her father on state media, many details about her remain unknown. North Korea has never publicly published her name or age.
Her public profile first emerged when basketball star Dennis Rodman mentioned her name to The Guardian after visiting Pyongyang in 2013. Most assessments peg her at 13, though estimates vary.
Earlier, Seoul’s spy agency suggested she has an older brother, but officials have since walked back that claim.
“It was an intelligence failure,” says Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea watcher and vice-president at the Sejong Institute, who was among the first to advocate Ju Ae as heir.
Cheong and other analysts now believe Ju Ae is the elder child and that she has a nine-year-old sister.
She first appeared publicly in a 2022 state television segment, holding her father’s hand as they inspected North Korea’s latest missile.
Image source, KCNA VIA KNS via Reuters
Cheong notes that Ju Ae’s TV appearances place her at the center of the frame and that state media has described her as a “respected child,” a phrasing typically reserved for the supreme leader and a potential sign of a personal cult surrounding her.
Her closeness to the military is another clue, Cheong adds. Ju Ae has toured troops and weapons with her father, and top generals have been seen kneeling beside her to whisper as she sat with Kim Jong Un during parades.
Kim Jong Un’s authority rests on his control of the military, Cheong explains. If Ju Ae were to succeed him, she would need to be perceived as a credible military leader.
During troop inspections, Ju Ae wears the same long black coat and dark sunglasses that have become Kim’s signature.
Kim Jong Un’s ascent to power was abrupt; he appeared publicly only about a year before his father’s death. Cheong believes Kim may be maneuvering to avoid a sudden transition by introducing Ju Ae early to the regime and the public.
There is no concrete evidence that Kim Jong Un is ill, aside from recurring references to his weight, smoking, and drinking habits. Still, Cheong suggests the regime may be trying to establish Ju Ae’s succession early to prevent a crisis.
Yet former North Korean official Ryu Hyun-woo doubts a woman could rule, citing the country’s Paektu bloodline—legally requiring a direct descendant of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung. Although Ju Ae is blood-related, Ryu argues the patriarchal system would not recognize her as the rightful heir.
Image source, KCNA VIA KNS via AFP
Across North Korea, women face persistent inequality. Female officials are uncommon, and female military commanders even rarer. In Pyongyang, some taxi drivers won’t pick up women as their first fare of the day due to a superstition that it brings misfortune; drivers allegedly spit three times to dispel the bad luck afterward, according to Ryu.
Given these norms, Ryu finds it hard to imagine Ju Ae leading the country. He suggests Kim’s public display of his daughter could be a tactic to soften his image and promote the idea of hereditary rule.
Other voices, including South Korean intelligence, see the situation differently. They point to changes in women’s status since the Arduous March—North Korea’s famine in the 1990s that devastated the economy. While men faced shrinking pay and rations, women increasingly took on entrepreneurial roles and led households, signaling a shift in gender roles.
Song Hyun-jin, who interviewed more than 120 North Korean defectors about women’s leadership, notes that women now manage factories and occupy party seats. North Korean television has also shown men doing housework, signaling evolving gender norms.
Song believes Ju Ae’s gender won’t bar her from leadership if her father decides she should take the throne. Given her background and upbringing in a relatively poor country, Ju Ae’s elevated status could be accepted by ordinary North Koreans who imagine the regime as a modern dynasty.
“We should not apply our own logic to North Korea. Think of them as a Joseon-like monarchy,” Song says, noting that royal blood can command obedience in that worldview.
This week, Kim Jong Un promoted Kim Yo Jong, his influential sister, to the role of propaganda minister. Cheong interprets this as a sign that Kim is positioning his sister as a guardian to Ju Ae.
When Kim Jong Un took power at 27, many hoped he would open North Korea to the world. That hope faded when he moved to consolidate power and later executed his reformist uncle in 2013. Since then, the regime’s nuclear program and iron grip on society have only intensified.
Cheong sees no reason to expect Ju Ae will diverge from that path. He argues that assumptions about Ju Ae being more open or lenient stem from stereotypes about women rather than reality.
Ryu, whose father-in-law remains close to Kim Jong Un’s inner circle, suggests the heir debate may be a strategic exercise on its own. “Kim loves the publicity around his possible heir,” he says, implying the public discourse itself is part of the plan.
