On Saturday, North Korea's official news agency described the teenage daughter of leader Kim Jong Un as a "Supreme Guide," a term analysts confirm is typically reserved for senior leaders, indicating that she may succeed her father in the future. In both the English and Korean versions of a report released by the Korean Central News Agency about a visit Kim Jong Un and his daughter made to a farm, the dual form of this honorific was used, suggesting it applies to both of them.
The agency reported, accompanied by a picture of Kim and his daughter, that "the supreme guides, along with party, government, and military officials, toured the farm." Analysts noted that this is the first time North Korean state media has referred to Kim's daughter in this manner. Her name has never been mentioned in media reports in Pyongyang, but South Korean intelligence identified her as Ju Ae.
Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Korean Peninsula Strategy Research Center at the Sejong Institute, explained that the North Korean term "Hyangdo," meaning guide, is designated only for "top leaders or successors" in the regime. Cheong added that "elevating Kim Ju Ae to this status strongly indicates that she will succeed Kim Jong Un as the next leader of North Korea."
Kim Jong Un, grandson of the North's founding leader Kim Il Sung and part of the third generation of the Kim family leading the country, married Ri Sol Ju in 2009, according to South Korean intelligence. In 2022, Ju Ae was introduced to the world through North Korean state media when she accompanied her father to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Since then, she has been seen at numerous official events alongside her father, including military drills, a military parade, a weapons factory visit, and a chicken farm. In a photo released by Pyongyang on Saturday, Ju Ae was seen using binoculars to observe recent paratrooper exercises, standing next to her father and senior military officials.
