South Korea says ‘credible intelligence’ indicates North Korean leader’s daughter is successor
By Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, April 6 (Reuters) – South Korea’s spy agency now believes the teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is positioned as her successor, lawmakers said on Monday, citing a recent public display that showed her driving a tank and was likely intended to dispel any suspicion.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers its assessment was based on what it described as “credible intelligence” gathered by the agency, not circumstantial inferences, according to briefings given by ruling and opposition party members after a closed-door parliamentary meeting.
The NIS image of the daughter driving a tank was intended to highlight her alleged military prowess and dispel doubts about the female heiress, MPs said.
North Korea’s state media KCNA published photos of Kim and his daughter driving a new tank last month, following earlier footage showing Kim firing a rifle and using a pistol at a shooting range.
Ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sun-won said such scenes were intended to “pay homage” to Kim’s public military demonstrations in the early 2010s, when he was preparing to succeed his own father.
The latest assessment of Kim’s daughter, who is believed to be around 13 and named Ju Ae, is a progression from the spy agency’s previous analysis, which said she was likely being groomed to replace her father.
Citing the NIS, the lawmakers said Ju Ae’s repeated presence at defense-related events was aimed at alleviating doubts about the female successor and accelerating the construction of a succession narrative.
MPs have previously said the agency believed its increasingly prominent role meant it was already being treated as the de facto second-highest figure in the North’s leadership.
People Power Party lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said the NIS noted that suggestions that Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, might be unhappy about focusing on Ju Ae were incorrect because Kim Yo Jong does not have independent power.
But some North Korea experts have urged caution in interpreting the images as definitive signals of succession.
Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea National Unification Institute, said that Ju Ae’s appearance in the tank alone was not enough to conclude that he was confirmed as Kim’s heir, noting that he appeared alongside his father and not independently, unlike when Kim Jong Un went into the military alone during the maintenance phase.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim, Editing by Ed Davies)
