Kim’s daughter visits family mausoleum, promoting her potential status as heir in North Korea | World

Images carried by North Korea’s state media on Friday showed Kim Ju Ae standing in the front row with her parents and deeply bowing at Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, where the embalmed bodies of her late grandfather and great-grandfather are on display.

The palace is “a place that symbolizes legitimacy of the North Korean regime” and her visit there ahead of the Workers’ Party congress is a politically orchestrated move, said Cheong Seong-Chang, deputy head of the private Sejong Institute in South Korea.

Kim Jong Un, 41, is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea since the country’s foundation in 1948. He often marks key state anniversaries by visiting the Kumsusan palace and paying respect to his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.

Cheong predicted that Kim Jong Un could give his daughter the first secretary post at the Workers’ Party, the party’s No. 2 job, at the congress. Other experts say she is too young to accept such a high-profile post and might be provided with lower-level jobs.

The congress, the first of its kind in five years, is meant to establish new priorities in state policies and reshuffle officials. North Korea hasn’t said when it will hold it, but the National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s spy agency, said it likely will be held either in January or February.

In January 2024, the NIS said it viewed Kim Ju Ae as her father’s likely heir. Some outside experts disagree with that assessment, citing Kim Jong Un’s relatively young age and the extremely male-dominated nature of North Korea’s power hierarchy. The NIS told lawmakers in November that Kim appeared to have no major health problems.

Revealing the young Kim Ju Ae was a surprise to foreign experts because neither Kim Jong Un nor Kim Jong Il were mentioned in North Korean state media before they became adults. Some observers say Kim Jong Un likely aimed to shore up public support for his plan to extend the family’s rule by repeatedly disclosing Kim Ju Ae in public events.