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Kim Jong-un’s daughter shaping North Korean policy as succession signals deepen
Citing a spy agency briefing, a South Korean lawmaker said Kim Ju-ae ‘was in the stage of being internally appointed successor’
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to be taking steps to consolidate his daughter’s position as successor, and there are signs she is providing input on policy matters, South Korean lawmakers said on Thursday, citing a spy agency briefing.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency (NIS) will be closely watching whether the daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju-ae, attends a coming meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party and how she is presented, including whether she takes on any official title, the lawmakers said.
“In the past, the NIS described Kim Ju-ae as being ‘in study as successor’ but today the expression used was that she ‘was in the stage of being internally appointed successor’,” lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters following a closed-door briefing from the NIS.
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Ju-ae, who is believed to be in her early teens, has been increasingly prominently featured in North Korea’s state media accompanying her father on field guidance including inspections of weapons projects amid speculation by analysts that she is being nurtured as the country’s fourth-generation leader.
The NIS believes the role she has taken on during public events indicates she has started to provide policy input and that she is being treated as the de facto second-highest leader, Lee and another lawmaker Park Sun-won said.
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North Korea has announced the Workers’ Party will convene the inauguration meeting of the ninth congress in late February, an event that analysts believe will unveil major policy goals for coming years on the economy, external affairs and defence.
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