Kim Jong Un brings daughter Ju Ae into dynasty spotlight with mausoleum visit

Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Ju Ae, widely seen by analysts as a potential future leader, has made her first public visit to the Kumsusan Mausoleum in Pyongyang, appearing alongside both parents in a highly symbolic moment for North Korea’s ruling dynasty.

Images released by state media on Friday showed the family paying respects to Kim Jong Un’s father and grandfather, Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun. The visit, analysts say, reinforces the carefully cultivated mythology of the Kim family’s so-called Paektu bloodline, a narrative that has underpinned its grip on power for generations.

Over the past three years, Ju Ae has appeared with increasing frequency in official photographs and reports, prompting growing speculation from analysts and South Korea’s intelligence services that she is being groomed as a fourth-generation leader.

Photos from the Korean Central News Agency showed Ju Ae standing between her parents, Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju, in the mausoleum’s main hall during the January 1 visit, accompanied by senior officials.

Ju Ae was first publicly introduced in 2022, when she attended the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile alongside her father. Believed to have been born in the early 2010s, she has since appeared at major state events, including New Year celebrations, and in September made her first known overseas trip, travelling with Kim Jong Un to Beijing.

The mausoleum visit coincided with a cluster of politically significant dates, a pattern often used by Pyongyang to underscore continuity and legitimacy within the ruling family. State media have referred to Ju Ae as “the beloved child” and a “great person of guidance”, or hyangdo, language traditionally reserved for senior leaders and their anointed heirs.

Before 2022, Ju Ae’s existence had never been officially acknowledged by North Korean media and was known only through comments by former NBA player Dennis Rodman, who said he met Kim Jong Un’s daughter during a visit to the country in 2013.

North Korea has never formally named a successor to its leaders. Instead, transitions have historically been signalled gradually, through public appearances, shifts in protocol and the slow expansion of official roles.

The images of Ju Ae at one of the country’s most sacred political sites come as Kim Jong Un continues to emphasise military strength, pledging to expand missile and artillery production and describing such weapons as a vital “war deterrent” amid heightened readiness by the United States and South Korea.