Kim Jong Un's daughter visits mausoleum, fueling heir rumors

In North Korea, where political events are meticulously choreographed, the visit to the Kim dynasty’s resting place comes as Pyongyang prepares for its first ruling party congress in five years.

In a symbolic gesture, the teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the family mausoleum for the first time in public, a move observers say signals her growing prominence as a possible successor.

State media outlet KCNA on Friday released pictures of Kim Ju Ae visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where North Korea's founding leader Kim Il Sung and his successor Kim Jong Il, her great-grandfather and grandfather, lie in state.

She accompanied her parents during the visit and was surrounded by high-ranking officials.

Kim signals continuity through Ju Ae's rising profile

Ju Ae was publicly introduced in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. Since then, her public presence has steadily grown, and she has frequently appeared at official functions.

South Korea's spy agency said last year she is now understood to be next in line to rule North Korea after she joined her father on a high-profile visit to Beijing.

The mausoleum is "a place that symbolizes legitimacy of the North Korean regime," and her visit there ahead of the Workers' Party congress is a politically orchestrated move, said Cheong Seong-Chang, deputy head of the private Sejong Institute in South Korea.

Cheong, author of a book on the Kim leadership, noted that her placement in the center of the front row during the visit, a spot typically reserved for her father, was especially notable.

Her appearance comes as North Korea prepares for its key Workers' Party congress, the first in five years, which aims to set new policy priorities and reshuffle officials. While North Korea has not announced a date, South Korea's intelligence agency expects it in January or February.

Analysts have suggested she could be given a high-ranking position in the ruling party at the congress.

Edited by: Sean Sinico