North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spent the day firing pistols with his teenage daughter while inspecting a light munitions factory. According to viral images shared by North Korean media, the father-daughter duo were wearing leather jackets, a symbol of power in the country.
Ju Ae was attending an event with her father at a “large munitions factory” that produces new pistols and other “portable light weapons,” the official Pyongyang Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim was inspecting a “new type” pistol that had recently begun production at a “shooting range” factory.
He reportedly expressed satisfaction with the “perfection of the weapon,” the report said.
Kim’s daughter Ju Ae firing a pistol appeared in front-page photos of Pyongyang state media. She was shown firing a gun with her eye closed while flames shot from the gun’s muzzle.
The photos have reignited speculation that Ju Ae is being groomed as Kim’s heir, a perception fueled by a series of recent high-profile trips, as well as a rare picture released late last month of her shooting a rifle at a shooting range.
Tuesday’s visit to the gun factory followed an inspection in which Kim and his daughter watched the test-fire of what state media described as nuclear-powered cruise missiles from a naval destroyer. Kim has called for accelerating the nuclear arming of his navy.
Is Ju Ae the next leader of North Korea?
The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a personality cult surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country, AFP reported.
Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Before that, the only confirmation of its existence came from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited the north in 2013.
Since then, she has accompanied her father to an increasing number of events, including military exhibitions, factory openings and a September trip to Beijing, where Kim Jong Un held his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years.
Her increasingly prominent public appearances have prompted South Korean intelligence officials and experts to suggest that Kim Jong-un may be grooming her as a future leader to extend the family dynasty into a fourth generation.
Last month, state media showed Ju Ae testing a sniper rifle as Kim presented the weapons to senior officials after a ruling party congress where he laid out his main political and military goals for the next five years.
Despite her young age, “the regime seems to be trying to cultivate an image of a strong and formidable woman,” North Korea expert Lim Eul-chul of South Korea’s Kyungnam University told AFP. “The pistol shooting scene clearly serves as a signal that he is cultivating the attributes of a military leader.”
