Very little is known about Kim-Jong-un’s family life. According to South Korean information, the North Korean dictator has three children, but there is no definite information.
North Korea’s state news agency KCNA has published pictures in which Kim Jong-un is seen walking with his daughter hand in hand in the missile test area. On Friday local time, North Korea launched its largest missile to date, the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile. The photos published by KCNA are believed to be Kim’s daughter Kim Ju-ae, which has not been seen in public before.
Kim’s wife was also present at Friday’s missile test Ri Sol-ju.
Bringing family members to the missile launch site has been interpreted as a way to send a signal to the world that the leadership of North Korea is firmly in the hands of the family. According to the experts interviewed by the Reuters news agency, the public presentation of the daughter may be a sign that the leadership of North Korea will in the future pass to the next generation of the Kim family.
A secretive family
Very little is known about Kim’s family. Kim is about 40 years old, so the succession of power is not timely, unless the dictator’s health fails. A couple of years ago, it was suspected that Kim would have serious health problems.
According to official information, Kim was born in January 1982, but the South Korean intelligence service has estimated that he was born only in 1983. There are different estimates of the exact year, although the birthday is the same in most estimates, i.e. January 8. In South Korea, referring to intelligence information, it has been speculated that Kim Jong-un has three children, two girls and a boy.
American former basketball player who visited North Korea in 2013 Dennis Rodman said that he had seen Kim’s daughter named Ju-ae, who apparently is the girl in the pictures now.
Jenny Town 38 North, a US-based network of researchers that monitors North Korea, says that bringing his daughter to the missile test and releasing the photos suggest that Kim is not ready to slow down weapons development and is not going back to the negotiating table. North Korea has been exceptionally active in testing missiles this year. In early November, it launched 23 missiles on the same day.
Kim said on Friday that North Korea plans to accelerate its nuclear weapons program and is ready to respond to the nuclear threat of its enemies with nuclear weapons.
Read more: North Korea is now firing a record number of missiles – it may foreshadow the dictatorship’s seventh nuclear test