North Korean Leader’s Daughter, 13, Shows Up at Missile-Firing Exercise Looking All the More Like His Heir Apparent

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter and heir apparent was on full display in the North Korean press a day after North Korean gunners fired a salvo of missiles while the Americans were showing off how fast army engineers could assemble a bridge on the historic North Korean invasion route into South Korea.There she was, traipsing close beside her father, both of them attired in black leather jackets and pants — hers quite clingy, his a bit baggy — against a background of cannons in photographs distributed by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency. As usual, KCNA did not say a word about the daughter, much less mention her name. It’s believed to be Ju-ae, which is what Chicago Bulls basketball star Dennis Rodman understood when Mr. Kim hosted him in Pyongyang in 2013, but the North keeps that detail a secret.The message, however, is clear. The girl is positioned more firmly than ever to succeed her father, who’s only 42 or 43 but believed to be suffering from ailments due in part to packing more than 300 pounds on his five feet-five-inch frame.Besides showing off the as-yet officially nameless Ju-ae, Mr. Kim delivered an intimidating message for the Americans and South Koreans in the midst of their annual Freedom Shield war games. KCNA, reporting that the North Korean drill involved “twelve 600mm-calibre ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies,” had Mr. Kim claiming they could strike enemies of the regime within 261 miles. All the rockets, it said, landed accurately on their island target 226.4 miles at sea.More threateningly, Mr. Kim hinted that the exercise should give the North’s enemies “a deep understanding of the destructive power of tactical nuclear weapons.” North Korea is not believed to be capable of affixing a tactical nuke to a missile, but the mention of the “n word” added urgency to the American-South Korean exercises, which wind up Thursday.Mr. Kim’s daughter now is accustomed to the sound of gunfire. She’s been with her father at rocket or missile exercises since accompanying him at the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2022. KCNA photos have shown her growing up ever since. She’s lately been shown firing a pistol at a range with her father and, before that, squinting as she sighted a rifle. KCNA reported that Mr. Kim judged the pistol was “excellent” but said not a word about the shooting prowess of his daughter while distributing a photo showing the flash of the shot as the young woman clutched the trigger.

North Korean Leader’s Daughter, 13, Shows Up at Missile-Firing Exercise Looking All the More Like His Heir Apparent

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