»Kim Jong-daughter un’s may influence the fate of North Korea«
North Korea performed a successful test of its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) — the Hwasong-17, also known as the “monster missile” by some observers. Ri Sol-ju, the 33-year-old wife of North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, and their 9-year-old daughter Kim Ju-ae immediately overshadowed the sight of Pyongyang’s ballistic missile test.
Kim is thought to have three children, a son and two daughters, and this was their first public appearance. Kim Ju-ae, the younger daughter, has already made two major military appearances, including a November photo op with the Hwasong-17 team and an unspecified visit to a missile plant.
This raises doubts about Kim’s daughter, who Dennis Rodman exposed to the public during one of his infamous North Korea excursions a decade ago. Why this child at this time?
Kim and his daughter inspected other missiles. Little is known about the North Korean leader’s personal family or why he opted to introduce Kim Ju Ae to the public as opposed to his other two children.
via REUTERS
Obviously, some experts have hypothesized that Kim Ju-enhanced ae’s public visibility may be related to family succession plans. However, it is more likely that her appearances are part of a meticulously planned propaganda narrative designed to enhance his father’s political image.
Kim Jong-un has always presented himself as a man of the people, unlike his father, who commanded North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011. This strategy was taught to him by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, who controlled North Korea from 1948 until his death in 1994.
Young Kim Ju Ae first came to the attention of the public after she was “leaked” to the press by former professional basketball player Dennis Rodman (seen here with the North Korean leader in 2014), who frequently visited her father in the early 2000s.
Stills from Kyodo News via Getty Images
The younger Kim bears a striking likeness to his grandfather and is frequently depicted in official media posing with workers and troops in a manner identical to that of his grandfather, sometimes with arms locked or even in full embraces. Kim Jong-un, like his grandfather, has attempted to appear friendly and sympathetic for his people. In 2017, there was a photo of a strategic forces officer riding on Kim’s back as they celebrated the launch of a new rocket engine.
“Kim Jong-media un’s team has succeeded in portraying their leader as a man of the people,” says Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies, Alexandre Mansourov. His public acts and the visuals linked with them resonate with average Northerners and bring him closer to their daily lives.
Kim Jong-tight un’s circle includes his 33-year-old wife Ri Sol-ju, with whom he is frequently observed in “regular” situations, such as riding horses, in an effort to portray himself as a “man of the people.”
AP
Kim’s family is a big component of this lifestyle. Since the beginning of his reign, Kim has frequently accompanied Ri Sol-ju to state occasions and international trips. Kim Yo-jong, his 35-year-old sister, is nearly always at his side or in the background in public, getting significant expertise in state and military issues.
Many North Korea watchers have hypothesized that Kim’s sister, and not his young daughter, is being groomed as a potential successor. Others, such as Doug Bandow, a senior scholar at the Cato Institute, have argued that this is “unlikely” in a system where “political power” has been “predominantly male” and “society remains profoundly patriarchal.” In addition, Kim Yo-jong is quite close in age to her sibling.
Also frequently by Kim Jong-side un’s is Kim Yo-jong, age 35. Various observers of North Korea have predicted that she may one day succeed her brother. However, their matching ages and North Korea’s traditional patriarchal society indicate that this is highly unlikely.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Kim Jong-un, like his grandfather, enjoys being pictured surrounded by youngsters. He is a national patriarch who frequently appears at orphanages and festivals, embracing children who are laughing or crying. This visual tactic has been followed by an increase in the use of the term “fatherly Marshal” in official media, which describes Kim as the “kind father of a large family of the entire nation.”
Michael Madden, a Nonresident Fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center, states that these visuals are both uplifting and mundane. Madden explains that they contribute to the “official ideology that portrays the Suryong [Great Leader] as the protective and loving father of socialist Korea.” A new photograph depicts Kim visiting a military base and examining the “bathroom and food of the soldiers as if he were their real father.”
Kim Jong Nam, Kim Jong-half-brother, un’s fell out of favor with the state and was executed in 2017 after years in exile. Kim Jong Nam is pictured in an undated photograph taken in Shanghai.
Kim’s aura could not feel more different from that of his father, who is significantly less gregarious. Today, in place of a stern dictator like Kim Jong-il, his son Kim Jong-un leads a new period in which the military remains significant, but the well-being of the North Korean people is also a priority (some of the poorest people on the planet). And nothing says parent like a photograph of Kim with his small child.
Obviously, photographs of young Kim Ju-ae convey far more than just paternal love. In addition, they reveal a shifting narrative on the nation’s WMD program. Politically isolating itself and being hamstrung by economic sanctions, North Korea has paid a heavy price for its nuclear armament development. The presence of his daughter at the launch of the “monster missile” and the accompanying global news lend this price significance and imply that it serves a greater purpose.
Ken Gause, director of the Strategy, Policy, Plans and Programs Division at the Center for Naval Analysis, explains, “Kim Jong-un wants to offset [North Korea’s] reputation for aggression with nuclear weapons.” By presenting his wife and daughter at the missile launch, Kim is shown as a responsible manager of his defensive nuclear program, which is intended to safeguard his family and people.
The current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, has a similar appearance and demeanor to his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, who ruled the country from 1948 until his death in 1994. In 1984, Kim Il-sung is shown here during an official visit to Warsaw.
Getty Pictures
Kim’s transformation from a baby-faced upstart to a fatherly leader coincides with a more assertive tone about the nation’s nuclear weapons. For example, when North Korea announced its revised nuclear law in September 2022, which for the first time outlined conditions for preemptive nuclear use, Kim emphasized that the country would “never denuclearize,” that “a line had been drawn,” and that “nuclear weapons can no longer be subject to negotiation.”
Rachel Minyoung Lee, a senior analyst for the Open Nuclear Network, adds that “if North Korea wanted to leave wiggle room [for future negotiations], it would typically refer to its nuclear weapons program using conditional expressions such as ‘as long as’ or ‘if.’” This conditionality appears to no longer exist. The fact that Kim and his daughter witnessed the ICBM launch and toured the missile facility bolsters the view that nuclear weapons, like Kim’s daughter, are here to stay.
Kim Il-sung, in the center, is depicted in a classic propaganda portrait beside his son and successor Kim Jong Il, who is surrounded by adoring youth. Kim Jong-un is the son of Kim Jong-il, the previous leader of North Korea.
Nevertheless, it remains possible that Ju-appearances ae’s were less about legacy and more about bolstering local support for North Korea’s seemingly incessant missile testing. In 2017, when the regime launched 24 rockets, the Trump administration responded with its now-famous “fire and fury” phrase. In 2016, North Korea launched around 90 missiles. Despite economic hardships exacerbated by sanctions, border closures, and limited trade due to COVID, sources such as Radio Free Asia have reported that ordinary North Koreans are complaining about how the government continues to launch missiles despite the fact that many people “are desperately struggling to make ends meet right now.”
Former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (photographed in 2011 during a trip to Russia) had a far less prominent public image than his son. Some hypothesize that this is because he maintained multiple wives and residences.
Madden observes that Ju-appearances ae’s may have been an attempt to modify the bad public perception of the testing. He stated that anecdotal evidence from unofficial sources indicate that she has been well received by domestic audiences.
Generations of Kims have been depicted inconsistently in the media throughout history. During the long reign of Kim Il-sung, his second wife, Kim Song-ae (stepmother of Kim Jong-il and Kim Kyong-hui), served as the country’s first lady from 1963 to 1974, leading the women’s union and engaging in state matters. Also relatively powerful in political circles were her children. Kim Song-public ae’s profile began to decline in the late 1970s, when Kim Il-successor, sung’s Kim Jong-il, was named.
Kim Jong-un, like his grandfather, has a predilection for appearing alongside adoring (sometimes weeping) young people, such as these female soldiers in 2014.
REUTERS
Kim Jong-il was significantly more guarded about his family during the mid-1990s. According to Madden, this was mostly due to Kim’s several wives and families, which would have been considered as “scandalous and offensive” by North Korean elites and citizens. At least two of these wives had “difficult pasts.” “Kim Jong-mother nam’s was divorced and was born in South Korea,” he says, “while Kim Jong-mother un’s was born in Japan.”
Kim’s long-term intention for his children’s public identities remains unclear despite recent photo opportunities. And it is unknown why he opted to reveal Kim Ju-ae as opposed to his other two children or perhaps all of his children. Maybe he prefers her more. Or perhaps because she is the only one of his children who is already well-known to the outside world, due to Rodman. In a 2013 interview regarding his trip to North Korea, Rodman referred to Kim as “awesome” and a “good father” to his “daughter named Ju-ae.”
North Korea has become one of the poorest countries in the world as a result of the crippling sanctions resulting from its nuclear weapons program and the continuous economic upheaval created by the coronavirus outbreak. Ordinary citizens in the city of North Pyongan, such as these two, are beginning to question the expense of repeated missile testing in light of continued austerity.
AP
No one but Kim Jong-un knows why he has began flaunting his daughter in public (above during the Hwasong-17 launch last year). However, it appears that neither the girl nor the North Korean missile program are going anywhere.
via REUTERS
While Kim Jong-wife un’s and sister have maintained favourable public perceptions, family members who could potentially question Kim’s leadership have not fared as well. In 2013, his brother-in-law Jang Song-thaek was captured and executed, and in 2017, Kim Jong-nam was infamously murdered at the Kuala Lumpur airport. His other half-siblings are rarely mentioned or depicted in state media, although his aunt occasionally appears at Kim and his wife’s side at key state ceremonies.
As with practically every other aspect of North Korea, there are few indications of when (or even if) the Kim children will return to the public sphere. However, Kim Ju-recent ae’s public appearance demonstrates a newfound trust in her father and the decisions he has made regarding North Korea’s trajectory with regard to nuclear weapons. According to Mansourov, Kim may have brought his daughter to communicate that “our nuclear-missile arsenal is here to stay and cannot be negotiated away” If he is true, it will be difficult to get North Korea back to the table of nuclear negotiations.
Jenny Town is a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center as well as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of 38 North.
»Kim Jong-daughter un’s may influence the fate of North Korea«