Overview
- State photos showed the teenager walking just behind her father as they arrived by armored train in Beijing for a parade marking 80 years since Japan’s World War II surrender.
- North Korea has not confirmed her name or age, but South Korean intelligence and Dennis Rodman’s 2013 account identify her as Kim Ju Ae, estimated to be about 12 to 13.
- South Korea’s National Intelligence Service assesses her as the most likely successor so far, while analysts say the China trip offers valuable diplomatic and protocol exposure.
- She was not pictured at the Tiananmen Square ceremony itself, following a pattern of carefully staged appearances that began with her 2022 debut at an intercontinental missile test.
- State media has elevated her image with honorifics and even postage stamps, a campaign that tests North Korea’s male-dominated dynastic precedent and signals another generation in place.