North Korea appears to have begun designating leader Kim Jong-un’s (R) daughter Ju-ae (C) as successor, Seoul’s spy agency told lawmakers Thursday. In this photo, Ju-ae is seen with her parents at a New Year’s event on Dec. 31, 2025. File Photo by KCNA/EPA
North Korea appears to have entered the stage of designating leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter Ju-ae as the successor, the spy agency was quoted as saying by lawmakers Thursday, marking a stepped-up assessment from its earlier evaluation of her as the “most likely successor.”
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) cited signs of Ju-ae expressing her views on certain state policies as one of the grounds for its latest assessment during a closed-door briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee, Reps. Park Sun-won and Lee Seong-kweun told reporters.
“As Kim Ju-ae has shown her presence at various events, including the founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected of her voicing her opinion on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being designated as successor,” Lee said.
Lee said the latest assessment marked a step forward from the agency’s previous views when it described Ju-ae as being “trained” to become a successor, to now assessing her as being at the stage of “successor designation.”
The NIS also said it will keep close tabs on whether she attends the North’s key party congress late this month.
In January 2024, the NIS assessed Ju-ae, believed to be born in 2013, as the North’s “most likely successor” in its first evaluation of her possible succession in the reclusive regime.
Earlier in January, Ju-ae paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the Kim family’s mausoleum, for the first time, together with her parents amid growing speculation about her potential succession.
If Ju-ae appears at the party congress or is awarded with an official title at the event, speculation about her being groomed as Kim’s successor will likely gain traction.
Meanwhile, on talks between the United States and North Korea, the NIS noted, “There is a possibility that North Korea could respond to dialogue with the U.S. if certain conditions are met.
“North Korea has expressed dissatisfaction with the U.S. over the South Korea-U.S. fact sheet or the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula, but it has not ruled out the possibility of talks with the U.S. and has refrained from criticizing President Donald Trump,” the spy agency said.
The NIS also noted that the North has refrained from firing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) apparently to avoid provoking Trump, who is sensitive to such missile launches.
Around 10,000 North Korean combat troops and 1,000 engineer troops are currently deployed in the front-line Kursk region of Russia to support Moscow’s war with Ukraine, the spy agency said, with an estimated 6,000 North Korean soldiers killed or injured.
Some 1,100 combat and engineer troops that returned to the North last December could be dispatched again, it added.
“Despite suffering 6,000 casualties, the North Korean military has achieved the results of acquiring modern combat tactics and data in the battlefield, as well as upgrading its weapons systems with technical assistance from Russia,” the NIS said.
The agency also noted that Pyongyang has established a new department on unmanned aerial vehicles and is accelerating efforts to set up a system capable of developing and mass-producing drones.
As for inter-Korean relations, the NIS said North Korea is continuing to maintain its rhetoric of defining the two Koreas as “two hostile states,” adding that it has recently given guidelines to its officials and overseas missions to avoid engagement with South Korea.
On North Korea’s ties with China, the agency said they have “not gained momentum yet.”
“Although trade between North Korea and China reached US$3 billion last year, the highest in six years, this is only half the level before the imposition of sanctions,” it said.
Meanwhile, the intelligence committee discussed the issue of repatriating two North Korean soldiers held by Ukrainian forces.
The government is making every effort to assist their defection to South Korea as they have expressed their willingness to defect to the South, the NIS said.