Is Kim Jong Un's daughter his designated successor?

North Korea has always been secretive when it comes to its ruling family  but the evidence is mounting that Kim Jong Un's daughter just might be the first in line to succeed her father as the next leader of the country.

Vice News journalist Jack Cummings reported that state media in North Korea have begun referring to Kim Jong Un's daughter as "General Morning Star," which is a term that holds a great deal of significance.

The title was originally given to Kin Sung Il, the founder of the current North Korean regime, and it was also bestowed upon Kim Jong Un before he took power in the country in 2011.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA

Little was known about Kim Jong Un's daughter, Kim Ju Ae, before she was officially unveiled to the world by North Korean state media at her father's side in November 2022 during a visit to a ballistic missile test launch site.

Since that appearance, Kim's daughter has quickly become a major political player in North Korea and has shown up in public no less than nineteen times according to The Straits Times. Ju Ae has even had official stamps issued in her honor.

In February 2023, Pyongyang announced that Kim Ju Ae would be featured on the country's new propaganda stamps, which was the first indication that she may have been the new heiress of the hermit kingdom. 

The series of stamps were meant to honor the test firing of North Korean missiles carried out in November 2022. Five of the stamps were said to feature the face of the young Ju Ae, a choice that was certainly not made at random.

North Korea has never officially identified Kim's daughter by her first name and the state-owned stamp company described her as the "beloved daughter" of Kim Jong Un on its website.

For An Chan-il, the head of the World Institute for North Korean Studies, Ju Ae's stamp might have marked the "official start of Kim Ju Ae's life as her father's successor," as quoted by AFP.

Radio Free Asia also reported at the time the stamps were released, North Korean authorities asked girls and women with the same first name Kim Ju Ae to change it to something else.

According to two unnamed sources who spoke with Radio Free Europ, the local governments of Jeongju and Pyongsong ordered all Ju Ae's to change their names on their birth certificates.

As previously stated, the daughter of Kim Jong-Un has made several appearances in public since her existence was officially recognized in North Korean state propaganda, including a visit to a military banquet on February 9th, 2023. 

However, few appearances by Ju Ae have been as consequential as her first in February 2022 when she attended the launch of North Korea’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17, an event that was prerecorded and then broadcasted. 

In the heavily-produced video, Kim’s daughter could be seen walking next to her father and holding his hand as the two oversaw a successful launch and celebrated with other family members and government officials. 

It was the first time Kim’s daughter had ever been acknowledged by the country’s media, confirming what many political analysts had thought: Kim Jong-Un did indeed have children.

Experts on North Korea believe that Kim has had three children with his wife Ri Sol-Ju, and it has been speculated that these children were likely born in 2010, 2013, and 2017. 

North Korean state media has also described Kim’s daughter as his “most beloved” or “precious” child, terms that have led to speculation that they were a sign Ju Ae had been chosen as the heir apparent to the Kim family legacy. 

“Does this mean that she has been chosen as Kim Jong Un's successor and will one day be running North Korea?" wrote BBC Seoul correspondent Jean Mackenzie when analyzing Ju Ae's big reveal. 

Ankit Panda, a North Korean expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was quoted by NBC News as saying that the scene of Ju Ae's first reveal to the world was “certainly striking.”

However, the succession question at the time seemed to be an interesting one but one that was highly debatable. Or at least it was debatable until Ju appeared in her second propaganda video in just under a week after she was revealed to the world.

“The photograph of Kim’s [daughter] standing alongside her father while being celebrated by technicians and scientists involved in the latest ICBM launch would support the idea that this is the start of her being positioned as a potential successor,” Panda explained at the time.

“State media underscoring her father’s love for her further underscores this, I think,” Panda added.  “Both of her public appearances have been in the context of strategic nuclear weapons — the crown jewels of North Korea’s national defense capabilities… That doesn’t strike me as coincidental.” 

Photos released by North Korean state media at the time showed Kim’s daughter posing beside him during an event with soldiers at an official government event. 

Prior to her first appearance, there wasn't much known about Kim’s oldest daughter. However, Former basketball player Dennis Rodman mentioned that he had met Kim’s wife and held their daughter Ju-ae during his 2013 trip to North Korea. 

Succession in North Korea is not based on hereditary privilege alone so any distant relative or influential figure could become the country's future heir.