In what experts see as a further indication of her positioning as the next successor to her father, North Korea has unveiled new postal stamps portraying leader Kim Jong Un’s daughter. Kim Jong Un’s children were never mentioned in state-run North Korean media for years. But, Kim Jong Un was spotted with his daughter by his side in November 2022, at the launch of the nation’s most potent ballistic missile.
The daughter, who has never been identified by Pyongyang, has since made a number of high-profile appearances. The intelligence organisation in South Korea thinks she is Ju Ae, Kim’s second child.
Five of the new stamps honouring the November 18 missile launch, which were unveiled by the government-run Korea Stamp Corporation on Tuesday, feature Kim and his daughter.
In captions describing the stamps on their website, the company referred to the unnamed girl as Kim’s “beloved daughter.” The series will be made available for the general public on Friday (February 17).
Kim Jong Un’s daughter: North Korea’s next leader?
As per some observers, the daughter’s public appearances show that she is being prepared to succeed her father as the country’s next leader, and the stamps solidify her status inside the Kim family’s cult of personality.
An Chan-il, the director of the World Institute for North Korean Studies and a defector-turned-researcher, told AFP that the stamps “look like the official start of Kim Ju Ae’s life as her father’s successor.”
ALSO WATCH | Gravitas: North Korea bans women from having same name as Kim’s daughter
Others, however, argued that it was still too early to draw any conclusion, considering that Kim is still only in his 30s and that the daughter’s name has never been fully revealed.
“Throughout North Korean history, whenever it officially named the country’s heir apparent, they made sure people knew the name of the person,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
“It’s still very possible that Ju Ae is just being used for (propaganda)… while Kim’s eldest son is being groomed as a successor behind closed doors.”
(With inputs from agencies)
