SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un unveiled his daughter at a recent public event as one of his children will wield his power in what will one day become the country’s third heir. The transfer, which was likely an attempt to show his people that he would inherit, the South Korean spy service told lawmakers on Thursday.
Kim has publicly taken his daughter to three events: a missile launch site, a photo shoot with weapons scientists, and a tour of the missile facility.state media called her Kim’s ‘Most Beloved Child’ sparked outside controversy She is believed to be around 9 or 10 years old, but as to whether she is groomed like his heir.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a closed-door parliamentary committee that Kim was trying to show the North Korean people that he was determined to bring his daughter to the public stage once again. said. A lawmaker who attended a closed NIS briefing told reporters:
Yu cited NIS as believing that her first public appearance for Kim’s children does not necessarily mean that she will be Kim’s successor.
South Korean media have stated that Kim has three children born in 2010, 2013 and 2017, the first being a son and the third a daughter.
In an early assessment after the daughter’s first disclosure in November, the NIS told lawmakers that she was Kim’s second child, named Joo Ae, and was about 10 years old. He said, Unveiling ceremony at the missile launch site It appeared to reflect Kim’s intention to safeguard future generations of North Korea, which is facing a stalemate with the United States.
Joo Ae appears to be Kim’s child, whom former NBA star Dennis Rodman saw during a visit to Pyongyang in 2013. And he was holding Kim’s baby daughter, Joo Ae.
Kim Jong Un, who turns 39 on Monday, is the third generation in a family that has ruled North Korea since its founding in 1948. He inherited power from his father Kim Jong Il, who died in December 2011. Kim Jong Il took over power when his father, founder of the state, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.
At Thursday’s briefing, the NIS also said former North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, who was involved in dormant nuclear diplomacy with the United States, has been purged, according to another lawmaker Youn Kun-young who was present at the meeting. said.
If confirmed, it would be the most high-profile incident by North Korea in recent years. Kim Jong-un planned a series of executions, purges and dismissals of high-ranking officials early in his administration, including the murder of his uncle in power, apparently to cement his grip on power.
Yoon quoted the NIS as saying it was not yet known whether Ri Yong-ho had been executed. Mr. Yu said the spy agency did not explain why Mr. Ri was deported.
A career diplomat, Ri participated in the 2018-2019 nuclear summit with the United States over ways to exchange North Korea’s denuclearization measures for economic and other benefits. Ri said late at night after his second summit with Kim Jong Un and then-President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019 broke down over a dispute over US-led sanctions. held a press conference, saying Washington had wasted money. A chance that “may never come again”.
South Korean intelligence agencies have spotty records tracking North Korean movements. Information about secretive and authoritarian states is often impossible to verify.
Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported earlier this week that Ri is believed to have been executed in 2022. Citing an unnamed source familiar with North Korean internal affairs, the newspaper said it had information that four to five other people with ties to foreign North Korean governments had been executed. The Ministry was also executed. The reason for the execution is unknown.
NIS also told lawmakers that one of five North Korean drones Korean airspace violation Yun said it may have taken the South Korean presidential palace in Seoul. Earlier Thursday, the South Korean military said a North Korean drone had penetrated the northern edge of a no-fly zone set up around the presidential palace.
recognized by the South Korean military failed to shoot down One of North Korea’s drones flew over the border of its rival for the first time in five years. The failure raised security concerns in South Korea.
According to NIS, North Korea has about 500 drones, including a small number of self-explosive drones, Yoo said.
Observers say North Korea has a history of sending surveillance drones to South Korea. Suspected North Korean drones discovered in South Korea in 2014 also included photos of the South Korean presidential palace in another location in Seoul. Another suspected North Korean drone that crashed in 2017 was found to have photographed US missile defense systems in South Korea.
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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.