North Korean Leader’s Daughter in First Visit To Symbolic Mausoleum

Seoul: Kim Ju Ae, the North Korean leader’s daughter, made her first visit to the mausoleum of her grandfather and great-grandfather, further cementing her place as her father’s successor, according to footage shown by state media on Friday.

The Kim family has ruled North Korea with strict rule for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding the so-called “Paektu lineage” dominates daily life in the isolated country.

Current leader Kim Jong Un is the third person to lead the world’s only communist monarchy, after his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.

The two men, dubbed “eternal leaders” in state propaganda, are housed in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a vast mausoleum in downtown Pyongyang.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Jong Un visited the palace accompanied by senior officials.

In the footage released by the agency, he can be seen being accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae.

South Korea’s spy agency said it was now clear he was next in line to rule North Korea after accompanying his father on a high-profile visit to Beijing last year.

Ju Ae was introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father on an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

North Korean state media have since referred to him as a “beloved child” and a “great guiding person” (“hyangdo” in Korean); The term is often used for senior leaders and their successors.

The only confirmation of its existence before 2022 came from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited the North in 2013.