Defectors Say Kim Jong Un Is Preparing His Daughter for Succession
South Korea's intelligence agency and 11 North Korean defectors interviewed by the Associated Press believe the country's leader is grooming his 13-year-old daughter to take over the dynasty.
By Ricardo Alvarez ·
Kim Jong Un has spent the past four years positioning his young daughter as his likely successor, according to South Korea's spy agency and the majority of recent defectors. The intelligence agency assesses that Kim Ju Ae, who is reportedly 13 years old, is in line to lead the country. This view is shared by eight of the 11 defectors who spoke with The Associated Press. The remaining three expressed doubt, citing the North's patriarchal culture.
The shift toward a female heir is marked by a series of public appearances. Since late 2022, Kim Ju Ae has accompanied her father to military parades and weapons tests. State media describes her as his most beloved and respected child. Visual cues reinforce this status, including images of an elderly general kneeling before her and her standing ahead of her father in official photographs.
Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean embassy in London who defected in 2016, noted that senior officials treat the girl with protocols reserved for a successor. He said they repeat the same behavior they used when Kim Jong Un accompanied his father. Kang Mi-Jin, who runs a company analyzing the North Korean economy, said her contacts inside the country reported the same belief over smuggled phones. Jung Gwang-il, a defector who smugs information into the North, found similar views among residents in Chinese border towns.
Skepticism persists due to the low representation of women in senior government posts. According to South Korea's Unification Ministry, only one of the 17 department directors for the ruling Workers' Party is a woman. That position is 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 find the idea of revering a young girl as supreme leader nonsensical.
Lee Si-young, who heads the Seoul-based Free North Korea Radio, reported that older contacts are unhappy with the prospect of a woman in power. However, she added that the Kim family is viewed as godlike, which may render gender irrelevant. Dennis Rodman first revealed the child's identity to the public by holding her as a baby during a 2013 visit to Pyongyang.
Observers expect the succession to face little domestic resistance. Ahn Chan-il, a scholar and defector, said North Koreans will passively accept hereditary rule as a given. The ruling elite views the system as institutionalized, similar to how South Korea views presidential elections. Kim Jong Un, 42, is currently at high risk for cardiovascular disease but shows no other signs of poor health, according to recent intelligence assessments.
The next leadership transition will follow two previous dynastic shifts. Kim Jong Il succeeded his father in 1994 after two decades as the official heir. Kim Jong Un took power in 2011 at age 27 and consolidated control through high-profile purges, including the 2013 execution of his uncle Jang Song Thaek. Kim Yumi, a defector who fled three years ago, said ordinary people know little about the Kim family's private lives because inquiring can be dangerous.
