For years, North Korean state media by no means talked about Kim’s youngsters.

South Korea:

It wasn’t the nuclear missiles, ranks of goose-stepping troopers or medal-bedecked generals that captivated most consideration at North Korea’s latest army parade: it was a 10-year-old woman.

Alongside the nation’s chief Kim Jong Un, the woman — possible Kim’s second little one Ju Ae — inspected a guard of honour in the latest of a slew of high-profile appearances which have sparked fervent hypothesis she has been anointed his inheritor.

AFP takes a take a look at what we all know:

Who’s she?

For years, North Korean state media by no means talked about Kim’s youngsters, though Seoul’s spy company has mentioned he has three together with his spouse. They’re believed to be aged round 13, 10 and 6.

The one earlier affirmation of their existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who claimed he met a child daughter of Kim’s known as Ju Ae throughout a 2013 go to to North Korea.

However three months in the past, on the launch of his strongest intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim turned up together with his “beloved” daughter in tow.

Though North Korea has by no means formally recognized her by identify, Seoul’s spy company and analysts imagine the woman is Ju Ae, Kim’s second little one.

Is she Kim’s inheritor?

It actually seems that method, consultants say.

State media has known as her Kim’s “beloved” and “revered” daughter, and she or he has been proven strolling hand-in-hand along with her father — as her mom trailed behind them.

This means North Korea has began constructing a “persona cult” round Ju Ae, mentioned Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at South Korea’s Sejong Institute.

It “alerts that she has been designated because the de facto successor although she would not maintain the official ‘successor’ standing but”, he mentioned.

In state media photos, Ju Ae has been positioned within the center, subsequent to her father and surrounded by the nation’s prime brass.

“It means that Kim Ju Ae will turn out to be the supreme commander of the army sooner or later,” Cheong added.

Will North Korea Settle for A Lady Chief?

With regards to girls assuming political management roles, North Korea’s glass ceiling has been bulletproof, says Bronwen Dalton, head of the division of administration on the College of Expertise Sydney’s enterprise faculty.

However change is afoot, she mentioned, and North Korea’s management is making an attempt to “preserve its legitimacy by creating a brand new model of womanhood” that displays social modifications within the nation over latest many years.

Youthful generations have “grown up shopping for and promoting in markets, utilizing cell phones and accessing international media content material”, which has pressured North Korea to recalibrate its model of a great girl.

North Korea’s present management, though predominantly male, does have some high-profile girls, together with international minister Choe Son-hui and Kim’s youthful sister Kim Yo Jong as a regime spokeswoman.

Kim Jong Un is “presiding over a propaganda equipment forging a brand new narrative on the place of ladies”, Dalton advised AFP.

However crucially, an important function of all North Korean girls stays “devotion to their ‘father’ Kim Jong Un”, which Ju Ae embodies completely, she added.

So she’ll undoubtedly be in cost at some point?

Not essentially, consultants say.

“Maybe greater than some other nation, counting on household ties and being within the proximity of energy is precarious,” Dalton mentioned, pointing to a “revolving door” of relations who’ve been exiled from North Korea or killed.

“Ladies usually are not immune,” she added.

A feminine chief stays “not possible” in North Korea for now, An Chan-il, a defector turned researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Research, advised AFP.

“Nobody would welcome the concept if Kim Jong Un disappeared immediately and Ju Ae needed to succeed him,” he mentioned.

However her gradual introduction to the general public over the following decade or two, coupled with “ideological training”, ought to assist, he mentioned.

“The North Koreans seldom query who turns into the ruler.”

What about Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal?

Whereas North Korea shouldn’t be a monarchy, Kim Jong Un is the third technology of his household to rule the nation, after his father and grandfather, founding chief Kim Il Sung.

For the Kims, one of the necessary components of regime preservation has been their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

“Celebrations of North Korea’s nuclear-capable missile build-up could seem to be unusual events to undertaking a child-friendly picture,” however they’re efficient home propaganda, Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha College in Seoul, advised AFP.

“Kim is portraying Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal as a multigenerational asset to nationwide safety whereas proclaiming the army’s full loyalty to his political dynasty.”

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)