South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers that North Korea is using Kim Ju-ae’s public appearances to build acceptance of a possible succession, with military settings central to that presentation, lawmakers said Thursday.
Ju-ae is the daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Democratic Party lawmaker Youn Kun-young and People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Yeong-ha relayed the assessment after a closed-door parliamentary audit at NIS headquarters on Oct. 29.
The NIS traced Ju-ae’s public appearances back to 2022, lawmakers said, and viewed their pattern as an effort to make a possible succession more acceptable to North Koreans. Military-related activities accounted for nearly 60% of her appearances, according to their accounts.
The lawmakers’ public summaries did not give the end date for the calculation or explain how the agency classified appearances. The figure therefore describes the share reported by the NIS without specifying the period or method used.
Lawmakers also said the NIS viewed appearances connected to nuclear and missile programs as projecting an image of Ju-ae’s involvement in practical work. That account describes how she was presented publicly; it does not establish that she performed operational duties or made decisions about those programs.
Youn said NIS Director Lee Jong-seok confirmed that her real name is Kim Ju-ae in response to his question. At a Sept. 1 briefing, the NIS had described her as already moving through the process of successor designation, according to a lawmaker’s account of that meeting.
