North Korea’s ‘most beloved daughter’

朝鲜的“最心爱之女”

Today in Focus

2026-04-08

30 分钟
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Journalist Jean H Lee on Kim Ju-ae, the daughter of Kim Jong-un, and the future of North Korea. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
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  • This is The Guardian.

  • Today, the teenage girl in training to become North Korea's next supreme leader.

  • With most world leaders, if they have a kid, you know about it.

  • But in North Korea, they do things differently.

  • For years, Kim Jong-un never even acknowledged having any children.

  • Then, in 2022, a young girl suddenly appeared by his side, putting a ballistic missile with him, hand in hand.

  • As you do.

  • On Friday, the young daughter of North Korea's leader made her first public appearance during that launch.

  • His daughter, believed to be around nine years old,

  • identified by North Korean state media and appearing right alongside her dad as they walked around this gigantic missile

  • dwarfed by the size of the transporter erector launch vehicle that was used.

  • Kim Jong-un still won't come out and say, hey everyone, meet my daughter and successor.

  • But there are signs Jue is being groomed for the top job.

  • North Korea is now forcing people with the same name as Kim Jong-un's daughter to change it.

  • In 2023, the North Korean government issued a diktat ordering anyone else called Jue to change their name.

  • And last year, Kim Jue took her first public trip abroad,

  • accompanying her dad to Beijing for China's largest ever military parade.

  • And in January, she went to visit her embalmed grandpa in the family mausoleum.

  • South Korea's spy agency believes Kim is close to declaring his daughter the heir to the secretive kingdom.

  • So what do we know about the girl who could be supreme leader?