North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took his daughter to visit troops to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the country’s military as he lauded the “irresistible might” of his nuclear-armed forces, state media reported yesterday.
The visit came amid indications that North Korea is preparing to stage a massive military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where it could showcase the latest hardware of a growing nuclear weapons program that stokes the concern of its neighbors and the US.
In her fourth known public appearance, Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, believed to be nine or 10 years old, stood closely with her father as he shook the hands of senior officials and sat next to him at a table.
Photo: REUTERS
Analysts say the leader’s decision to take his daughter to public events tied to his military is to remind the world he has no intentions to voluntarily surrender his nuclear weapons, which he apparently sees as the strongest guarantee of his survival and the extension of his family’s dynastic rule.
State media’s lofty description of Kim Ju-ae, who has been called “respected” and “beloved,” has also inspired debate on whether she’s being primed as her father’s successor.
She attended a flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in November last year, and has accompanied her father to a meeting with military scientists and an inspection of ballistic missiles.
Photo: AFP
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim Jong-un visited the lodging quarters of the Korean People’s Army’s general officers with his daughter.
He later gave an encouraging speech to troops at a banquet, praising them for maintaining the “strongest army in the world” despite external difficulties.
The visit came a day after Kim Jong-un presided over a meeting with his top military brass and called for an expansion of combat exercises aimed at bolstering war readiness, as he looks to escalate an already provocative run in weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening tensions with his neighbors and Washington.
State media photographs showed military officials applauding at the banquet, which appeared to be held at Pyongyang’s Yanggakdo Hotel.
Kim Jong-un and his daughter dressed alike in black suits and white dress shirts, and held hands as they walked down a red carpet alongside the leader’s wife, Ri Sol-ju.
During his speech, Kim said it was his “greatest honor” and delight to be the supreme commander of an army that is “fulfilling [the] call of the times and history as the strongest army in the world.”
State media reports on Kim Jong-un’s visit to troops did not mention any comments made toward Washington or Seoul.
However, the official Rodong Sinmun daily said in an editorial that the military is prepared to unleash a “super strong strike of unimaginable might to wipe out the origins of provocations without a trace” when facing enemy threats.
The newspaper said ramped up weapons tests and combat exercises last year were successful demonstrations of “overwhelming military might” that support the North Korean government’s escalatory nuclear doctrine and its principle of “power-to-power, all-out confrontation” against enemies.
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