When North Korea‘s chief Kim Jong Un stepped off his armored practice in Beijing to attend celebrations marking 80 years because the finish of WWII in Asia, his younger daughter Kim Ju Ae stunned the cameras as she appeared then adopted alongside him. Believed to be 12 or 13 years outdated and known as “beloved child” in North Korean state media, this was her first recognized journey exterior the nation.
To informal observers, Kim Ju Ae’s look Tuesday is perhaps seen as a father-daughter bonding journey. However her arrival in China could possibly be greater than that: Kim Jong Un‘s sign that she is within the combine for future succession plans.
“Because when North Korea finalizes their successor process, they are used to bringing this successor to China,” stated Park Gained-gon, professor of North Korean Research at Ewha Womans College and director of the Institute of Unification Research in Seoul. “Showing them is kind of their tradition.”
Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, introduced him to Beijing to current him as a successor when he was believed to be in his mid-20s. Kim Il Sung, the nation’s founder, did the identical for his son Kim Jong Il. The intent was to start constructing the subsequent political relationship with Beijing for the long run.
In recent times, Kim Ju Ae has appeared together with her father at main public occasions inside North Korea.
On this picture supplied by the North Korean authorities, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un and his daughter arrive on the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 29, 2025.
AP
One problem, nonetheless, is that Kim Ju Ae is feminine, and North Korea is a patriarchal society.
“We are not 100% because Kim Ju Ae is simply a 13-year-old girl and not an adult at all. So it’s too early to say that she’s (absolutely) going to be the next successor,” stated Park, “and Kim Ju Ae doesn’t have any kind of military experience.”
As for Kim Jong Un’s journey itself, his go to to Beijing is a large political win on the world stage together with his choreographed proximity to China’s President Xi Jinping as proof. The 2 walked stride-by-stride earlier than China’s spectacle of a parade then sat side-by-side, and front-and middle, over Tiananmen Sq. as Chinese language troops goose-stepped and as new Chinese language army {hardware} rolled down the Avenue of Everlasting Peace.
Xi may have picked any chief of the greater than two dozen who traveled in for the commemoration — together with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Myanmar’s army junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. But it surely was Kim on his left, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on his proper. And these optics had been designed to ship a message of unity — and in opposition to Washington and the proverbial West.
“It’s definitely Kim Jong Un’s political victory,” stated Park. Xi “picked Kim Jong Un as the top role and then he is showing his affection to North Korean Kim Jong Un to the world.”
Kim’s greatest win, says Park, is the “normalized relationship between North Korea and China” after six years of no face-to-face contact. “And it will help North Korea in future discussion or dialog with President Trump. I think there is a possibility that Trump would try to meet Kim Jong Un again.”
