The recently unveiled daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is being homeschooled and spends her leisure time horseback riding, skiing and swimming, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Kim has taken the daughter to a series of public events since November last year, including a missile launch site, sparking intense outside debate over whether the girl, reportedly named Kim Ju-ae and about 10 years old, is being primed as his successor.
The South Korean government has assessed that Kim Jong-un, 39, has not anointed her as his heir, but it says he likely aims to use his daughter’s appearances as a way to show his people that one of his children would one day inherit his power in what would be the country’s third hereditary power transfer.
Photo: Korean Central News Agency / Korea News Service via AP
In a closed-door parliamentary committee meeting, the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) maintained that assessment, saying that Kim Jong-un is still too young and healthy to appoint his successor, said South Korean lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, who attended the session.
The agency said the daughter’s unveiling largely appeared intended to underscore the imperativeness of another hereditary power succession, Yoo told reporters.
The NIS told lawmakers that Kim Ju-ae has never been enrolled at an official education facility and is taking homeschooling in Pyongyang, Yoo said.
He quoted the agency as saying her hobbies are horseback riding, skiing and swimming.
The NIS said it has information showing that Kim Ju-ae is “very good at horseback riding” and that Kim Jong-un is satisfied with that, the lawmaker said.
Last month, Kim Jong-un and his daughter took center stage at a Pyongyang military parade, which featured a ceremonial cavalry unit trotting through the parade plaza riding white horses — a symbol associated with the family’s dynastic rule. North Korean state TV described one of the animals as “most beloved” by Kim Ju-ae.
The NIS also said that Kim Ju-ae has an elder brother and a younger sibling whose gender is still unknown.
It said that reports that Kim Jong-un’s first child has mental or physical problems have not been verified, Yoo said.
Some experts say it is almost certain that Kim Ju-ae is her father’s successor because state media have called her Kim Jong-un’s “most beloved” or “respected” child and published images showing her closeness with her father.
Others disagree, citing her relative young age and the extremely male-dominated nature of North Korea’s power hierarchy.
Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family: Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il, and his grandfather and state founder Kim Il-sung.
The name of Kim Ju-ae matched what retired NBA star Dennis Rodman called Kim Jong-un’s baby daughter, whom he said he saw and held during his trip to Pyongyang in 2013.
The NIS has a spotty record in confirming developments in the secretive North Korea. It often releases its finding on the country through a parliamentary committee meeting.
Meeting with reporters alongside Yoo, South Korean lawmaker Youn Kun-young quoted the NIS as saying that it is difficult to estimate the exact number of people in North Korea who have recently died of a worsening food shortage.
He said that the NIS told lawmakers that starvation-related deaths in North Korea are not serious enough to threaten Pyongyang’s government.
Experts say the food situation is the worst it has been under Kim Jong-un’s 11-year rule, but maintain they see no signs of imminent famine or mass deaths.
The NIS assessed that North Korea’s food problem is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, its agricultural policy and an issue of grain distribution.
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