SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un introduced his younger daughter to a soccer activity celebrating the birthday of his late father, point out media claimed Saturday, her most current in a series of community appearances that have brought on debate on whether or not she’s staying prepped for a long run management part.
The formal Korean Central News Company stated the existence of Kim and his “beloved” daughter, recognized as Kim Ju Ae and considered to be about 10 decades outdated, brought “joy and excitement” to Friday’s ceremonial recreation concerning employees users from the Cabinet and the Defense Ministry.
The Protection Ministry staff received the match 3-1 and then defeat the Cabinet employees yet again in a tug-of-war function, according to the report, which did not mention any comments created by Kim. The party was to rejoice the birthday of the late Kim Jong Il, the country’s earlier chief and the father of the current ruler.
“The stadium was loaded with joy and exhilaration of officials of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Nationwide Protection who experienced the great honor of keeping sizeable sports and cultural functions on the spring vacation of February in the presence of Kim Jong Un whom they needed to see even in their desires,” the KCNA report reported. It claimed all members at the celebration produced a “firm pledge to provide the persons with devotion with renewed braveness and in superior spirits.”
Images released by North Korea’s formal Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed Kim and his daughter smiling and clapping from the VIP seats, the place they sat in the heart involving senior govt and armed forces officers. Kim Yo Jong, Kim’s sister and a single of his leading international policy officers, was noticed sitting in a row at the rear of them.
The function marked the sixth identified general public look of Kim Ju Ae, but the very first that wasn’t overtly relevant to her father’s nuclear arms ambitions. She was to start with proven on condition media in November when Kim Jong Un brought her to notice a flight check of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
She also appeared with her father in a substantial armed forces parade in the capital, Pyongyang, very last week, when troops rolled out more than a dozen ICBMs, an unprecedented variety that underscored how Kim carries on to grow his army capabilities in spite of constrained methods while diplomacy stays stalled.
Prior to the parade, Kim Ju Ae also joined her father in a go to to troops, in which she sat in the seat of honor at a banquet when becoming flanked by her mothers and fathers and generals. She also seems together with her father in a number of new postal stamps released Friday to mark the November ICBM take a look at, which the North has described as a success.
Analysts say Kim Ju Ae’s appearances at main gatherings tied to the country’s army is her father’s way of reminding the planet he will under no circumstances voluntarily surrender his nuclear weapons and missiles, which he evidently sees as the strongest guarantee of his survival and the extension of his family’s dynastic rule. Her popular publicity in point out media could also be aimed at strengthening domestic loyalty to the Kim spouse and children and planning for a upcoming heredity transfer of ability.
Even though North Korean point out media’s lofty descriptions of Kim Ju Ae, who has been identified as “beloved” and “respected,” have fueled speculation that she’s getting primed as a potential leader, South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Youngse downplayed that likelihood during a parliamentary session on Wednesday.
Kwon, Seoul’s prime stage man on North Korea, reported Kim Jong Un’s reasonably youthful age — thought to be 39 — and North Korea’s male-dominated ability hierarchy make it questionable no matter whether Kim Ju Ae is getting groomed as his successor.
