Kim Ju Ae’s missile-side spotlight fuels succession fears

A girl believed to be Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, has appeared repeatedly at major state events—at times standing beside him during intercontinental ballistic missile launches—prompting intense speculation in intelligence and policy circles about whethe

For years, North Korea kept nearly everything about its ruling family sealed behind propaganda walls. That is why a single shift in who appears on state screens has landed like a jolt in capitals far beyond Pyongyang.

In the last few years. a young girl—believed to be about 13 years old and identified as Kim Ju Ae—has become a recurring presence at major state events. She has been seen side by side with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as he inspects an intercontinental ballistic missile. She has attended massive military parades and appeared at gatherings of world leaders where North Korean generals and government officials salute and bow to her.

The attention is not just about her image. It is the combination of her age, the setting, and the pattern. Her presence has repeatedly placed a child in moments that have long been reserved for the regime’s most senior political and military figures.

Kim Ju Ae’s name, however, is not something North Korea has ever confirmed in state media. The name that analysts and observers use is tied to an unusual source: Dennis Rodman. More than a decade ago, Rodman visited North Korea and was introduced to Kim Ju Ae. He was told at the time that the baby he met was about 1 year old and that her name was Kim Ju Ae.

Before Rodman’s account, most details of the inner workings of the ruling family were kept hidden. Even Kim Jong Un—before he was chosen to succeed his father—was largely kept out of public view. That backdrop makes the current spotlight sharper. especially as persistent rumors about Kim Jong Un’s health have circulated for years.

The debate now centers on what the regime is trying to accomplish. Is Kim Jong Un simply showing pride as a father, using the trappings of state pageantry to elevate his daughter?. Or is he laying groundwork for something more consequential—grooming her for a future role at the top of a dynastic system built around male succession?.

Independent journalist and author Anna Fifield. a former Beijing and Tokyo bureau chief for the Washington Post and author of The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un. argues that the timing of Kim Ju Ae’s public emergence matters. Speaking in an excerpt from a conversation with the Today. Explained podcast’s co-host Noel King. Fifield said she thinks Kim Jong Un is trying to avoid the kind of rushed. unstable succession process that marked his own rise.

Kim Jong Un is the third-generation leader of North Korea. Fifield points out that North Korea has experienced only two prior transitions. She contrasts how his father moved through public political ranks for 20 or 30 years—an approach that helped build legitimacy—against Kim Jong Un’s own unusually rapid debut.

His father’s stroke came in 2008, and he died at the end of 2011. Kim Jong Un was unveiled to the public in 2009. and then rose quickly: he was promoted through the ranks. made a general. and received political office in the Workers’ Party of Korea. the ruling party. Fifield describes the period as “hairy. ” with the outcome uncertain while powerful older officials—octogenarian apparatchiks who had run the system for decades—were still deciding whether to back him.

Fifield’s core point is that Kim Jong Un, still in his mid-40s, likely wants a succession plan that does not force his chosen heir through the same difficult sprint. But she also ties the strategy to a deeper cultural obstacle.

A daughter would represent a major break with North Korea’s patriarchal. old-school society. where women “are hardly ever in charge.” Fifield says it would be an extremely difficult step for a dynastic communist monarchy to reach a fourth generation through a woman in a system that values maleness and age.

So when did the appearances begin?. Fifield says Kim Ju Ae started appearing publicly almost three years ago. Early on. she said there was skepticism and talk about why Kim Jong Un was bringing his child to missile launches. She points out that it is “very unusual to take your 11-year-old to a missile launch. ” and that the idea of promoting a girl as leader felt beyond the pale.

As the appearances continued and Kim Ju Ae grew older, the tone in state propaganda shifted. She has been called the beloved daughter in North Korea’s propaganda. Fifield said that as the public profile expanded. it began to look less like an odd gesture and more like preparation—an effort to convince the one percent in Pyongyang who keep Kim Jong Un in power that she could one day take over.

Even so, crucial questions remain unanswered because North Korea has not offered basic confirmation. Fifield says there is no human intelligence on North Korea. and even South Korea’s intelligence service didn’t know how to spell Kim Jong Un’s name until North Korea revealed it in state propaganda. She also said there is “so much we don’t know,” including whether Kim Jong Un has other children.

What is available, she suggests, is heavily curated. The photos that circulate internationally are likely preapproved and passed through the state media apparatus. Those images, Fifield said, are striking for the story they appear to tell.

She said Kim Ju Ae looks so much like her mother, Ri Sol Ju, that people would recognize the resemblance. Ri Sol Ju is described as a very famous singer in North Korea and a household name. Fifield compared Ri Sol Ju’s role to “the Kate Middleton of North Korea. ” saying she is there to modernize and show the friendly face of the monarchy. with Kim Ju Ae carrying that modern image forward.

According to Fifield. the messaging runs through details: Kim Ju Ae’s appearance. the way she wears her hair. and her fashionable skirt suits. She said the combination—Kim Jong Un’s leather bomber jacket during outings. alongside Kim Ju Ae’s own coordinated look—signals that the regime wants viewers to see her as a modernizing next generation.

The question that keeps resurfacing is whether the North Korean military and elites would ever accept a teenage girl if something happens to Kim Jong Un. Fifield says that depends on timing. She also acknowledges she did not believe an old guard accustomed to decades of control would accept a 20-something leader who grew up playing basketball in Switzerland and had no political or military experience.

But Kim Jong Un’s record of brutal enforcement, including executing naysayers, has shown he could consolidate power anyway.

Still, Fifield is skeptical that the same outcome would easily follow for Kim Ju Ae. She calls the regime extremely anachronistic and describes it as one that has endured through a mixture of corruption. kleptocracy. and fear—keeping ordinary people living under constant threat of purges or worse. while relying on the old guard who run the country.

Even so, she stops short of ruling it out. It’s “not impossible,” Fifield said, that a daughter could work something out to take over. But in a patriarchal, Confucian society that prizes maleness and age, she argues it seems like “a step too far.”

Fifield’s remarks leave a picture with sharp edges: a child shown repeatedly in state settings too unusual to ignore. a curated media strategy designed to shape perception. and a succession question that has moved from speculation to something closer to a timetable—one that could alter how the world understands leadership in Pyongyang if it ever becomes policy.

North Korea Kim Jong Un Kim Ju Ae Dennis Rodman intercontinental ballistic missile succession Ri Sol Ju propaganda