North Korean defectors say Kim Jong Un's daughter is being groomed as next leader

Kim Yumi, a 32-year-old resident of Seoul, fled North Korea by boat three years ago. She moved her family to the South after state television broadcasts showed leader Kim Jong Un with his young daughter. Yumi felt the broadcasts signaled a plan to pass power to the child, creating a fourth-generation dictatorship.

The Associated Press spoke with 11 defectors and several experts to gauge how North Koreans view the potential leadership change. Eight of the 11 defectors believe Kim Jong Un's daughter is the likely heir. The remaining three disagreed, citing the country's patriarchal culture.

The girl is reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and is about 13 years old. Since late 2022, she has appeared in public dozens of times. These appearances have taken place at weapons tests and military parades. State media has described her as her father's most beloved child.

Tae Yongho, a former minister at North Korea's Embassy in London who defected in 2016, noted specific behaviors by senior officials. He said they treat the girl with protocols reserved for a successor. He compared this treatment to how they treated Kim Jong Un when he accompanied his father as heir. 'They are repeating the same protocol and treatment they provided for Kim Jong Un,' Yongho said.

South Korea's spy agency also assesses that the girl is the likely heir. Kang Mi-Jin, a defector who runs an economic analysis company, reported that contacts inside North Korea share this view. Jung Gwang-il, who smuggles information into the country, said North Koreans in Chinese border towns hold the same belief.

Skepticism remains regarding a female leader. Only one of 17 department directors in the ruling Workers' Party is a woman. That official is Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong. Kim Jeong-Ah, a former army officer who resettled in the South in 2009, said her contacts find the idea nonsensical. However, Lee Si-young, who heads Free North Korea Radio in Seoul, said family members are revered so highly that gender matters less to many citizens.

Kim Jong Un is 42 years old. South Korea's spy agency assessed that he is extremely obese and at high risk of cardiovascular disease. He shows no other signs of poor health. Observers agree that he will likely designate one of his children to prolong the family's rule.

The nation has experienced two previous successions. In 1994, Kim Jong Il took power from his father Kim Il Sung. In 2011, Kim Jong Un took power from his father. Ahn Chan-il, a defector and scholar who heads the World Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Koreans passively accept these hereditary transitions. 'North Korea's ruling elite accepts it as a matter of course,' said Oh Gyeong-seob, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

Kim Yumi said she first heard about the girl in November 2022. Kim Jong Un introduced her at a long-range missile launch site. 'Ordinary people know absolutely nothing about private lives of the Kim family,' Yumi said. She now runs a YouTube channel on North Korea.

Defector Choi Song-juk, who fled in 2015, described the earlier successions as nonsense. She said she had been brainwashed into having no complaints at the time. Jeon Jae-hyun, another defector, said the country's surveillance apparatus keeps citizens from voicing discontent and enforces political loyalty.