Kim Jong Un’s daughter visits household mausoleum, selling her potential standing as inheritor in North Korea

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The teenage daughter of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un made her first identified go to to a sacred household mausoleum, a step that specialists say bolstered her standing as her father's potential inheritor.

The go to, which occurred on New Yr's Day on Thursday, even sparked hypothesis that the woman — reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and aged about 13 — may very well be named a high-level official on the upcoming ruling Staff' Celebration congress.

Photographs carried by North Korea's state media on Friday confirmed Kim Ju Ae standing within the entrance row together with her mother and father and deeply bowing at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Palace of the Solar, the place the embalmed our bodies of her late grandfather and great-grandfather are on show.

The palace is "a spot that symbolizes legitimacy of the North Korean regime" and her go to there forward of the Staff' Celebration congress is a politically orchestrated transfer, mentioned Cheong Seong-Chang, deputy head of the non-public Sejong Institute in South Korea.

<img loading="lazy" alt="A girl in a black jacket with a fur collar stands next to an adult man in a black suit with a burgundy tie at a reception desk, a crowd of military officials behind clap behind them" srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/11b95e09-533e-485f-82cf-fc054bbf2f0b,1767353467675/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C1968%2C1286%29%3BResize%3D805 805w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/11b95e09-533e-485f-82cf-fc054bbf2f0b,1767353467675/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C1968%2C1286%29%3BResize%3D1104 1104w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/11b95e09-533e-485f-82cf-fc054bbf2f0b,1767353467675/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C1968%2C1286%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) 93.6vw,730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/11b95e09-533e-485f-82cf-fc054bbf2f0b,1767353467675/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C1968%2C1286%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.5303265940902022" data-cy="image-img"/> On this picture supplied by the North Korean authorities, its chief Kim Jong Un and his daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, examine a accomplished resort in Samjiyon, northeast of Pyongyang, North Korea, on Dec. 20. (Korean Central Information Company/The Related Press) Kim Jong Un, 41, is the third technology of his household to rule North Korea for the reason that nation's basis in 1948. He typically marks key state anniversaries by visiting the Kumsusan Palace and paying respect to his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

Cheong predicted that Kim Jong Un may give his daughter the primary secretary put up on the Staff' Celebration, the occasion's No. 2 job, on the congress. Different specialists say she is just too younger to just accept such a high-profile put up and could be supplied with lower-level jobs.

The congress — the primary of its type in 5 years — is supposed to determine new priorities in state insurance policies and reshuffle officers. North Korea hasn't mentioned when it would maintain it, however the Nationwide Intelligence Service, South Korea's spy company, mentioned it probably will likely be held both in January or February.

Since first showing in state media in November 2022, Kim Ju Ae has accompanied her father at a slew of occasions, together with navy parades and missile launches. In September, Kim Jong Un introduced her on his journey to Beijing. Throughout New Years' Day celebrations this week, she kissed her father on the cheek, exhibiting their closeness.

In January 2024, the NIS mentioned it seen Kim Ju Ae as her father's probably inheritor. Some exterior specialists disagree with that evaluation, citing Kim Jong Un's comparatively younger age and the extraordinarily male-dominated nature of North Korea's energy hierarchy. The NIS informed lawmakers in November that Kim appeared to don't have any main well being issues.

Revealing the younger Kim Ju Ae was a shock to overseas specialists, as a result of neither Kim Jong Un nor Kim Jong Il had been talked about in North Korean state media earlier than they turned adults. Some observers say Kim Jong Un probably aimed to shore up public help for his plan to increase the household's rule by repeatedly disclosing Kim Ju Ae in public occasions.