Kim Jong Un Positioning Teen Daughter as Successor: South Korean Officials

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made plans for his daughter to be his successor, a South Korean lawmaker briefed on the issue said on Feb. 12.

​The North Korean leader’s daughter is believed to be named Kim Ju-Ae and is approximately 13 years old.

Lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun revealed the plans to reporters after a closed-door meeting with the country’s National Intelligence Agency (NIS).

​”In the past, the NIS described Kim Ju-Ae as being ‘in study as successor,’ but today the expression used was that she ‘was in the stage of being internally appointed successor,’” Seong-kweun said on Thursday.

​The teenager has joined her father in the past as he inspected weapons projects, such as a missile test launch in November 2022.

Lee and another lawmaker, Park Sun-won, said the spy agency believes her role in public events indicated greater input on policy.

​Not much is known about the teenager, and her identity wasn’t revealed until former American basketball star Dennis Rodman shared the news in September 2013 after he joined the family at the beach and held Ju-ae when she was a baby.

​Ju-ae is allegedly home-schooled in Pyongyang and enjoys horse riding, swimming, and skiing, the South Korean National Intelligence Service shared in 2023.

​Ju-ae was referred to as “Morning Star” in 2024, which may hint that she was a leader in waiting.

​Her father, Kim Jong Un, was called the “Morning Star General” before he came into power in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.

​The North Korean Leader is focused on expanding the country’s supply of missiles and artillery shells.

​He ordered factories to “further expand overall production capacity” to keep up with what he alleged was a growing demand, according to a Dec. 26 report by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

​North Korea is a major weapons provider for Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago.

​Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service suggested that nearly half of Moscow’s ammunition supply is shipped from North Korea.

​North Korea’s most recent suspected ballistic missile test was on Jan. 27, according to the Japanese prime minister’s office and South Korea’s Defense Ministry.

​South Korea’s defense ministry called the launch “a provocative act that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions” and urged Pyongyang to “immediately cease” the activities.

​Reuters contributed to this report.