Meet the tween girl rumoured to become North Korea’s next leader

Meet the tween girl who could become North Korea’s next leader.

Speculation has been growing that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has been preparing his daughter Kim Ju Ae to take over from him in the top job.

The girl, who was kept out of the public eye until 2022 and is thought to be between 10 and 12-years-old, has been called by state-run media a “great person of guidance” – a term used only to describe top leaders and their successors.

She has also been overseeing military drills with her father in a sign that she is being trained up for a leadership role.

If she does take over as leader, Ju Ae will be the first female to rule the nuclear-armed country, where women are traditionally valued as wives and mothers rather than political leaders.

Not much is known about Kim Ju Ae, who has led a largely secret life in North Korea – a socialist country isolated from the rest of the world.

North Korea has been ruled by the Kim family since 1948, a few years after Korea was split into North Korea and South Korea.

In North Korea, the family has been described as having the Paektu bloodline. The west has described their rule as a dictatorship.

WHO IS KIM JU AE?
First introduced to the world in 2022, when she joined her father at the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Ju Ae has been described as the equivalent of a North Korean “princess”.

North Korea’s state-owned media has never identified her by name, but South Korean intelligence says she’s Ju Ae, the daughter of Kim and his wife, former star singer and first lady Ri Sol Ju, who they believe married in 2009.

She was once thought to be Kim’s second child, but last year Seoul said it was “unable to confirm for sure” whether she actually had an older brother.

No one aside from the Kim family knows exactly how old she is. North Korean leaders have traditionally kept their family lives secret from the public and the only reason the West found out about her existence was because former NBA star Dennis Rodman visited the North in 2013 and claimed he’d met a baby daughter of Kim’s called Ju Ae.

WHO IS HER MOTHER?
Kim’s wife, former songstress Ri Sol Ju, first appeared in state media in 2012 and has been regarded as one of the most high-profile women in the deeply patriarchal, or male-centred, nation.

She has joined her husband on numerous “field guidance trips” and to high-profile summits with foreign leaders, often dressing in luxury brands and once holding a Christian Dior handbag.

Her public presence, and official title of First Lady, which Kim gave her in 2018, was a break with North Korean tradition. The wives of the previous two leaders — Kim’s father and grandfather — rarely made public appearances, with details about their lives mostly kept secret.

In recent years, Ri has still been seen with her husband and daughter, although Kim has recently been choosing to bring Ju Ae, rather than his wife, as his partner to key events.

HOW IS KIM JU AE TREATED?
North Korean adults have been shown bowing deeply before her in state media images. At a military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the country’s founding, Marshal Pak Jong Chon, one of the most powerful military officials in the North, was seen kneeling by Ju Ae.

World Institute for North Korea Studies president Dr Chan-il Ahn told AFP that this deferential pose suggested she was “almost definitely” being prepared as the next leader of the nuclear-armed country.

“Pak represents the North Korean military, and he’s basically publicly pledged his allegiance to Ju Ae,” he said.

WHAT DOES HER STYLE SAY ABOUT HER?
Kim Jong-un is known for his love of leather jackets. He is often photographed wearing one at official engagements and Ju Ae has followed his lead.

In November, the pair were photographed wearing similar-looking leather jackets, both wearing sunglasses.

Kim Jong-un himself adopted the hairstyle, dress, mannerisms, public speaking style and even handwriting of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea.

Analysts say such imitation is a way to emphasise the Paektu bloodline, and the family’s claim to leadership.

No woman has run the country before, but since Ju Ae has the Paektu bloodline she would be able to become leader if it was what her father wanted, said University of Oslo Korean Studies Professor Vladimir Tikhonov.

LIFE OF LUXURY OR DUTY?
Ju Ae, who has been seen wearing what appeared to be a Dior coat, seems to enjoys a life of luxury, but “she is being used for adults’ ideological and political purposes and has to do public things for which she is too young,” Prof Tikhonov said.

Videos released by state media have shown a young girl who can at times appear tired or seem to fidget at official events.

“At the end of the day, she’s still a child,” said former CIA analyst Soo Kim, currently principal technical adviser at LMI Consulting.

“The highly public, highly staged role is not something most children at her age would be suited for.”

POLL

GLOSSARY

• speculation: talking about something and predicting what might happen next
• successors: those in line to take over as leader
• socialist: a country where the state, representing the people, owns property, resources and means of production rather than these things being owned by private companies or individuals
• dictatorship: a form of government where one person or small group has absolute power without limits over the ways things are run
• bloodline: a set of ancestors or family line of descent from an important person, such as the royal bloodline
• patriarchal: a system controlled by men, through the male head of a family, tribe, community, etc.
• deferential: expressing respect or highest regard to a superior or elder
• mannerisms: the way someone gestures or speaks
• ideological: relating to a body of ideas based on religious, cultural or political beliefs
• intercontinental ballistic missile: a rocket carrying a bomb that can travel more than 5,500km

EXTRA READING
Why TikTok could be banned in Australia
Trump walks out of summit with Kim Jong-un
North Korea peace promise makes history

QUICK QUIZ
1. Why is not much known about Kim Ju Ae?
2. When was Kim Ju Ae introduced to the public?
3. Why did Kim Jong-un adopt the mannerisms and style of his grandfather?
4. Why would it be significant if Kim Ju Ae became leader?
5. Who is North Korea’s First Lady?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Compare and contrast
Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast your life with that of Kim Ju Ae.

If you met her, what could you talk about?

What would you want to ask her about her life?

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Personal and Social Capability

2. Extension
Think of 10 attributes that you think make a good leader, and rank them in order of importance.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; HASS

VCOP ACTIVITY
Vocabulary recycle
There is some vivid vocabulary being used in the article, and I am not just talking about the glossary words. Go through the article and highlight the high-level language that you are impressed by in yellow.

See if you can borrow two of these wow words to reuse in your own way.

Remember vocabulary is a great way to connect with the audience, but you need to think about who your audience is so you make great word choices.

Who will the audience be in your recycled sentences?