South Korea’s spy company instructed lawmakers on Thursday (February 12, 2026) that it believes the teenage daughter of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un is near being designated because the nation’s future chief as he strikes to increase the household dynasty to a fourth technology.
The evaluation by the Nationwide Intelligence Service (NIS) comes as North Korea is getting ready to carry its largest political convention later this month, the place Mr. Kim is predicted to stipulate his main coverage objectives for the subsequent 5 years and take steps to tighten his authoritarian grip.
In a closed-door briefing, NIS officers stated they’re carefully monitoring whether or not Kim’s daughter — believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and round 13 years previous — seems with him earlier than 1000’s of delegates on the upcoming Employees’ Social gathering Congress, stated lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the assembly.
First showing in public at a long-range missile check in November 2022, Kim Ju Ae has since accompanied her father to an rising variety of occasions, together with weapons assessments, army parades and manufacturing facility openings. She travelled with him to Beijing final September for Mr. Kim’s first summit with Chinese language chief Xi Jinping in six years on the sidelines of a World Conflict II occasion.
Hypothesis about her political future intensified final month when she joined her mother and father on a New Yr’s Day go to to Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Solar, a sacred household mausoleum displaying the embalmed our bodies of her late grandfather and great-grandfather, the nation’s first- and second-generation leaders. Some specialists noticed the go to because the clearest signal but that she’s positioned to be the inheritor to her 42-year-old father.
South Korean officers initially expressed doubt that she could possibly be chosen as a North Korean chief, citing the nation’s deeply conservative tradition and custom of male-dominated management. However her more and more outstanding appearances in state media have prompted a reassessment.
In its earlier evaluation of Kim Ju Ae’s standing in September, the NIS instructed lawmakers that Kim Jong Un’s choice to deliver her alongside on his journey to China was possible a part of an effort to construct a “narrative” presumably paving the way in which for her succession.
“Previously, [NIS] described Kim Ju Ae as being within the midst of successor coaching.’ What was notable in the present day is that they used the time period successor-designate stage,’ a shift that is fairly vital,” Mr. Lee stated.
In keeping with Mr. Lee, the company cited her rising presence at high-profile army occasions, her inclusion within the household go to to Kumsusan, and indicators that Kim Jong Un was starting to hunt her enter on sure coverage issues.
Not a lot is thought about Mr. Kim’s daughter
Regardless of her elevated visibility in propaganda, North Korean state media have by no means printed the title of Kim Jong Un’s daughter, solely referring to her as his “revered” or “most beloved” youngster.
The assumption that she is called Kim Ju Ae relies on an account by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, by which he recalled holding Kim Jong Un’s child daughter throughout a visit to Pyongyang in 2013. South Korean intelligence officers consider she was born someday that 12 months.
In 2023, South Korea’s spy company instructed lawmakers that Kim Jong Un and his spouse additionally possible have an older son and a youthful third youngster whose gender is unknown.
Since its basis in 1948, North Korea has been dominated by male members of the Kim household, starting with the nation’s founder Kim Il Sung and adopted by his son, Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Un was simply 26 when he was formally named inheritor throughout a 2010 celebration convention, two years after Kim Jong Il suffered a debilitating stroke. Following his father’s demise in December 2011, he was abruptly thrust into the throne with comparatively little preparation.
Some analysts recommend that Kim Jong Un’s choice to debut his daughter early presumably displays his personal expertise of being rushed into energy.
Social gathering Congress might provide hints towards succession plans
Kim Ju Ae’s first identified go to to Kumsusan final month was additionally her father’s first go to to the positioning in three years. Given the palace’s standing as a key image of the Kim household rule, the journey must be seen as a symbolic gesture by Kim Jong Un to current his daughter as his inheritor earlier than his grandfather and father as he prepares for the most important ruling Social gathering Congress, stated Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute.
The Employees’ Social gathering congress in late February, final held in 2016 and 2021, may present a stage for Kim Jong Un to formalise his succession plans, presumably by giving his daughter the celebration’s first secretary submit, its No. 2 job, though such a call may not be instantly disclosed to the surface world, Mr. Cheong stated.
Different analysts query whether or not she would obtain such a high-profile submit or any formal celebration function, on condition that celebration guidelines require members to be at the very least 18.
If Kim Jong Un does use the Social gathering Congress to cement his daughter as successor, the indicators can be extra refined, stated Koh Yu-hwan, former president of South Korea’s Institute of Nationwide Unification.
For instance, the celebration might subject self-praise about how North Korea has survived longer than most different Communist states and credit score that to how the nation established a “profitable inheritance of the revolution,” he stated.
“Should you see feedback like that, it might be affordable to suppose that Ju Ae has been cemented,” as inheritor, Mr. Koh stated.
Revealed – February 13, 2026 11:57 am IST