North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spent a day firing pistols with his teenage daughter during an inspection of a light munitions factory. According to the viral pictures shared by North Korean media, the father-daughter duo wore matching leather jackets, a symbol of power in the country.
Ju Ae was attending an event, along with her father, at a “major munitions factory” that produces new pistols and other “portable light arms”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim reviewed a “new-type” pistol that recently entered production at the factory’s “shooting gallery”.
He reportedly expressed satisfaction over the weapon’s “excellence,” the report said.
Kim’s daughter Ju Ae firing a pistol featured prominently in Pyongyang’s state media photos. She was pictured firing the pistol with one eye closed, as flames shot from the muzzle of the gun.
These photos have reignited the speculation that Ju Ae is being groomed as the heir to Kim, a perception stoked by a string of recent high-profile outings, as well as a rare image released late last month of her firing a rifle at a shooting range.
The Tuesday visit to the pistol factory followed an inspection in which Kim and his daughter watched the test launch of what state media described as nuclear-capable cruise missiles from a naval destroyer. Kim has called for speeding up the nuclear armament of his navy.
Is Ju Ae the next leader of North Korea?
The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country, reported AFP.
Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. Before then, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited the North in 2013.
She has since accompanied her father to a growing number of events, including military displays, factory openings and a September trip to Beijing, where Kim Jong Un held his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years.
Her increasingly prominent public appearances have prompted South Korean intelligence officials and experts to assess that Kim Jong Un is likely grooming her as a future leader to extend the family dynasty into a fourth generation.
Last month, State media showed Ju Ae testing a sniper rifle as Kim presented the weapons to senior officials following a ruling party congress where he issued his major political and military goals for the next five years.
Despite her young age, “it appears the regime is trying to cultivate the image of a strong and formidable woman,” Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, told AFP. “The pistol-shooting scene clearly serves to signal that she is cultivating the attributes of a military leader.”