Kim Jong Un Daughter Reveal At Missile Test
It is challenging to surpass a brand-new ballistic missile with the capability of striking the whole US. But North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did exactly that by inviting his little-known daughter as a surprise guest to the test launch.
Images of Kim and his daughter holding hands at a missile launch site on Saturday marked the first time the world had seen Kim’s daughter. This surprise appearance raises the possibility that the fourth generation of Kims will take control of the reclusive state and its expanding nuclear weapons.
According to North Korea’s official media, Kim, Ri Sol Ju, other officials, and his “beloved daughter” watched the state’s brand-new intercontinental ballistic missile take flight on Friday.
The U.S. replied by sending supersonic bombers in a show of force, after Kim claimed that the launch of the nuclear-capable Hwasong-17 missile demonstrated his possession of a reliable weapon to counteract military threats from the U.S.-led alliance.
It was the most recent in a series of months’ worth of provocations from Pyongyang, but all eyes were now on the daughter, whose existence had never before made known to the public.
Images of Kim and his daughter, who dressed in a fluffy white coat and scarlet shoes and watched the ascending rocket with her father, published by North Korea’s Rodong Simmun newspaper. The girl’s identity and age were withheld by the state-run media.
It is the leader of North Korea’s first confirmed public outing of a child, whose private life is still a mystery.
Children of Kim Have Been Unknown
The identity of Kim Jong Un’s children are of great interest to people outside of the secluded country because the 38-year-old is the third generation of the Kim dynasty to control it. However, he has not publicly named an heir. Kim and his former singer wife, Ri, are thought to have three children together, who were born between 2010 and 2017.
Dennis Rodman, a retired NBA player, said that Kim had a “baby” daughter named Ju Ae, who he got to know while on vacation with the Kim family by the sea in 2013. The photographs didn’t make it immediately apparent which kid was pictured.
According to Michael Madden, a North Korean leadership analyst at the Stimson Center, “This is the first observed occasion where we have seen Kim Jong Un’s daughter at a public event. It is highly significant and represents a certain degree of comfort on Kim Jong Un’s part that he would bring her out in public in such fashion.”
Thoughts and Opinions
According to some commentators, the latest indication to the outside world that North Korea has no intention of giving up its weapons was the father’s decision to tie his daughter so closely to the advancement of the nation’s nuclear program.
According to Jenny Town of 38 North, a North Korea research firm with a Washington, D.C., base, the photographs represented the “optics of handing down a legacy.”
“For those thinking (North Korea) was just upping the ante to re-enter negotiations, this seems to suggest otherwise. Just as declarations about the nuclear program are no longer conditional — this seems to reinforce the nuke program is here to stay,” she said.
The dramatic disclosure, though, may have also served domestic purposes.
John Delury, a professor of Chinese Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, commented on Twitter, “Including his wife and especially his daughter’soften’ the image, at least [maybe] for domestic audience.” This Little Rocket Man is neither a war monger nor a narcissist. He is a decent father who guards his family just like he guards the country, said Delury.
The idea of the supreme leaders as the “fathers” of the country has long been central to the Kim cult of personality. The man who established North Korea, Kim Il Sung, is commonly shown with kids in propaganda pictures. If resources permit, candy and other tasty presents are frequently given out to kids on the leader’s birthday.
Kim Jong Un, though, seldom ever makes mention of his own family.
U.S. authorities and South Korean media conjectured that Kim experienced a period of ill health following heart surgery in 2020.
Complaints About The Missile Test
Analysts say that Kim’s sister and supporters could act as a regency until a successor in his family line was old enough to assume power because North Korea has never stated who would succeed Kim if he became incapacitated.
According to Madden, who spoke to Reuters, taking his daughter to the missile test site was a move for a “elite audience,” maybe introducing the fourth generation of the hereditary succession.
After a second unsuccessful launch in early November, a missile was launched on Friday. In reaction to Washington’s increased security presence in the area, the North threatened “fiercer” military retaliation on Thursday.
The missile may potentially reach any location in the United States, according to the military minister of Japan.
During a regional forum in Bangkok, Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the launch as a “brazen violation” of Security Council resolutions and urged North Korea to “stop further unlawful destabilizing acts.”
According to the State Department, Friday’s family gathering was North Korea’s eighth ICBM launch of the year.
The North is reportedly getting ready to conduct its seventh nuclear test, which would be its first since 2017 and result in a significant escalation of hostilities with the United States and its allies, according to South Korean and American officials.
Written by Gabriel Salgado
BBC News: North Korea’s leader Kim reveals his daughter in rare appearance
NBC News: Kim Jong Un reveals his daughter to the world at latest ballistic missile launch
Reuters: North Korea’s Kim reveals daughter at ballistic missile test
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Shafquat Towheed Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Shafquat Towheed Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
