SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has brought his young daughter on his most significant foreign trip in years, a trip to China that marks his latest attempt to break out of isolation and bolster his position by balancing between traditional allies Moscow and Beijing.
The girl is believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and is around 12 or 13 years old. Not much else is known about her.
Since 2022, Kim Jong Un has showcased her at a growing number of major public events tied to his nuclear-armed military, fueling speculation she is being primed as the country’s next leader.
Kim’s daughter’s name and age are unconfirmed
While North Korean state media have described Kim’s daughter as “beloved” and “respected,” they have never called her by name.
The assumption that the girl’s name is Ju Ae is based on an account by former NBA champion Dennis Rodman where he recalled holding Kim Jong Un’s baby daughter during a trip to Pyongyang in 2013.
Ju Ae’s exact age is unconfirmed but South Korean intelligence officials believe she was born in 2013.
In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers in 2023, South Korea’s main spy agency said it believes Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju also have an older son and a younger third child whose gender is unknown.
Kim Jong Un beamed as he stepped out of his family’s iconic green armored train to shake hands with senior Chinese officials upon arrival in Beijing on Tuesday. He was closely followed by Ju Ae.
Dressed in a navy pantsuit with her hair styled in a half-updo, a look reminiscent of her mother’s public appearances, Ju Ae stood in front of senior North Korean officials, including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.
However, she did not make a public appearance the next day as her father shared center stage with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a massive military parade at Tiananmen Square. The parade demonstrated a deepening alignment between Washington’s adversaries.
She’s being increasingly showcased in her father’s events
Kim Jong Un chose to publicly unveil his little-known daughter at a major military event — a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile — in November 2022.
State media released a series of photos of Kim and his daughter at the event, marking the first time her image was made public. She wore a white coat and red shoes as she watched a soaring missile from a distance and walked hand-in-hand with her father.
The missile test marked the first in a series of major military events where Kim Jong Un displayed his daughter. Her carefully-crafted appearances have included missile tests, military parades, and the launch of a naval destroyer in April, an event hailed as a major step in expanding North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong Un has recently expanded his daughter’s public appearances beyond military events to include some of his most ambitious economic projects and cultural events, including the opening of a beach resort in June.
Her trip to Beijing fuels speculation she is the future heir
Ju Ae’s increasing number of public appearances and presence in state media has led to speculation that she is being primed as her father’s successor. The theory has been further fueled by her first known foreign trip to China.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service issued a careful assessment last year that it views Ju Ae as her father’s likely successor, citing a comprehensive analysis of her public activities and the state protocols provided to her.
However, the spy agency said there are still various possibilities regarding North Korea’s power succession process because Kim Jong Un, 41, is still young, has no major health issues and has other children.
Some South Korean officials and experts initially expressed doubts over Ju Ae as the future heir, citing North Korea’s male-nominated power structure and Confucian influence.
Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family. Kim Jong Un inherited power upon his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011. Kim Jong Il took over power after his father and state founder Kim Il Sung died in 1994.
North Korea’s state media have yet to make any direct comments on a power succession plan beyond Kim Jong Un. It has also not commented on whether Ju Ae has any siblings.
Kim Jong Un has brought his daughter to Beijing. What to know about the possible North Korean heir
https://arab.news/zg3wq
Kim Jong Un has brought his daughter to Beijing. What to know about the possible North Korean heir
- Since 2022, Kim Jong Un has showcased his daughter at a growing number of major public events tied to his nuclear-armed military, fueling speculation she is being primed as the country’s next leader
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
