Kim Ju Ae: Daughter of North Korea's Kim Jong-un makes international debut

Kim Jong-un’s daughter has stepped into the international spotlight with her appearance in China ahead of President Xi Jinping’s “victory day” military parade in Beijing, fuelling speculation that she is being positioned as North Korea’s future leader  and potentially its first woman to hold the post.

Images released by Pyongyang’s state-run media showed Kim Ju Ae, believed to be in her early teens, disembarking from her father’s fortified train upon arrival in the Chinese capital. Greeted by Chinese officials, her presence marked a carefully choreographed debut on foreign soil.

Although her name and exact age have never been confirmed by North Korean authorities, Ju-ae has become a familiar face at high-profile events in her homeland. She has stood alongside her father during missile launches and, most recently, at the unveiling of the Wonsan Kalma seaside resort on the east coast.

Should Kim Ju-ae be her father’s chosen heir, as many analysts suspect, she would be the fourth member of the ruling dynasty to lead the country since its founding by Kim Il-sung in 1948.

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Her existence first came to light in 2013, when former NBA star Dennis Rodman – who had struck up a friendship with Kim – claimed he had held the leader’s infant daughter during a visit to Pyongyang. Though Ju-ae has never addressed the public, she has grown into a constant presence in her father’s retinue, often seen alongside Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong.

For years, state outlets refrained from acknowledging any of Kim Jong-un’s children. That changed in late 2022, when Ju-ae appeared beside her father at the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Months later, she attended a parade celebrating the anniversary of the Korean People’s Army, where she was introduced to the public as Kim’s “respected daughter.”

South Korea’s intelligence agency reported in 2017 that Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, were raising three children: a son born in 2010, a daughter born in 2013 – widely believed to be Ju-ae – and a third child born in 2017, whose gender remains unconfirmed.

In Beijing, Ju-ae appeared poised and smiling, dressed in a dark blue suit as she followed her father onto the platform after their overnight train ride from Pyongyang, signalling not only her growing visibility but also her symbolic entry onto the world stage.