North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to a lavish banquet at a military barracks on Tuesday, the latest sign the girl is possibly being groomed as his eventual successor in an authoritarian family regime dating back decades.
The girl – believed to be Kim’s second child, Ju Ae, who is around 9 years old – and her father were joined by his wife, Ri Sol Ju, in the visit to the barracks and subsequent banquet to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), state media reported Wednesday.
And on Wednesday night, the girl appeared again, this time watching with Kim as massive intercontinental ballistic missiles were paraded through Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung square in a military parade.
A Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report described seeing Kim and “his respected” daughter at the Tuesday night banquet as a dream come true for the military officials present.
Pictures published by the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed the girl walking next to Kim and her mother as they entered the venue for the banquet while military officers applauded.
At the banquet, the girl was seated in the center of the lead table between Kim and her mother.
“By ostentatiously including his wife and daughter, Kim wants observers at home and abroad to see his family dynasty and the North Korean military as irrevocably linked,” he said.
South Korean lawmaker and secretary of the National Intelligence Service Yoo Sang-bum said after that launch that the girl was thought to be Ju Ae.
Images showed the two walking hand in hand while inspecting the massive missile, while state media called her Kim’s “beloved” daughter.
North Korean state media published a story later that month with pictures of Kim and his daughter, describing her as his “most beloved” child, said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea.
The Kim family’s rule in North Korea stretches back to 1948, when Kim Il Sung came to power in the aftermath of World War II.
When he died in 1994, his son Kim Jong Il took control of the country. Kim Jong Un came to power in December 2011 after the death of Kim Jong Il, his father.
While the Kim regime has held previous such banquets for the military, pictures from Tuesday’s event depicted a more splashy setting than has been seen before.
“Kim’s lavish banquet commemorating the armed forces is meant to show that officers are highly respected in society and soldiers are well supported by the state,” Easley said.
KCNA reported that Kim Jong Un had made a speech at the banquet in which the North Korean leader praised and encouraged the military without making remarks about the United States or South Korea.
Tuesday’s banquet came a day before what many experts expect to be North Korea’s biggest military parade ever.
Pyongyang is coming off a record year of missile testing, and analysts are expecting to see examples of those missiles and more during an event expected to begin late Wednesday night.
