North Korean Defectors Believe Kim Jong Un's Daughter Is Designated Heir

Eight of the eleven North Korean defectors interviewed by the Associated Press believe Kim Jong Un’s young daughter, Kim Ju Ae, is the designated heir to the nation’s leadership. These residents of South Korea, who maintain contact networks inside the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, argue that the public treatment of the girl mirrors the protocols previously reserved for Kim Jong Un when he accompanied his father as successor.

Kim Ju Ae is reported to be 13 years old and has appeared in the public eye dozens of times since late 2022. Her appearances are consistently paired with her father at major state events, including weapons tests and military parades. State media has described her as Kim Jong Un’s most beloved and respected child, while visual records show senior military officials kneeling before her and positioning her in front of the leader.

Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London who defected in 2016, noted that the behavior of senior officials at missile launch sites and factories confirms her status. He stated that they are repeating the same protocol and treatment provided for Kim Jong Un during his time as heir. Kang Mi-Jin, who runs an economic analysis firm, reported that contacts inside the country use smuggled phones to communicate that they view Kim Ju Ae as the next leader. Jung Gwang-il, a defector involved in smuggling outside information into North Korea, confirmed that residents visiting Chinese border towns hold the same belief.

The succession question carries weight for a nation of 26 million people that functions as a nuclear-armed, authoritarian dynasty. Established in 1948, the state has seen three generations of the Kim family rule in succession without known public resistance. The first transition occurred in 1994 from Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Il, and the second in 2011 from Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un. Analysts expect the current population to passively accept a third dynastic shift, as public dissent is rare and private concerns are suppressed by a pervasive surveillance apparatus.

Skepticism regarding a female leader persists due to the country's patriarchal structure. South Korea's Unification Ministry notes that only one of the 17 department directors in the ruling Workers' Party is a woman, a role currently held by Kim Jong Un's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong. Kim Jeong-Ah, a former North Korean army officer who resettled in South Korea in 2009, said her contacts consider it nonsensical to revere a young girl as the supreme leader. However, Lee Si-young, who heads the Free North Korea Radio station in Seoul, added that while some older contacts dislike the prospect of female rule, they view the Kim family as gods reigning over humans, making gender a secondary factor.

Kim Yumi, a 32-year-old defector now living in Seoul, stated that she did not learn of the girl's existence until her father introduced her at a missile launch site in November 2022. She described the decision to flee North Korea by boat as a way to spare her children a fourth-generation dictatorship. Ordinary citizens, she explained, know little about the private lives of the Kim family and avoid paying attention to them to reduce the risk of persecution.

South Korea's spy agency assesses that Kim Jong Un, 42, is likely to designate one of his children to prolong family rule. The agency also reported that the leader is extremely obese and at high risk of cardiovascular disease, though he shows no other signs of poor health. Ahn Chan-il, a scholar at the World Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Koreans will accept the hereditary succession as something they should go along with. Oh Gyeong-seob, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, compared the system to presidential elections in other nations, noting that both the ruling elite and general citizens accept it as a matter of course.