North Korea: How much longer will their hollow dynasty last?
Kim Ju-ae is seen standing next to her father, Kim Jong-un, upon arriving in Beijing on September 2, 2025. (Image: KCNA)
In November 2022, North Korea broke from its usual practice.
Kim Jong-un presented his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, to the world.
For a regime that keeps not only its family affairs but even the smallest details of daily life shrouded in secrecy, this was a breach of tradition.
Of course, given Kim Jong-un’s political style, it was not entirely surprising.
Wasn’t Ri Sol-ju introduced to the public in a similar fashion?
In North Korea, Kim Jong-un has always been a leader who shows unconventional behavior.
In some ways, he seems to enjoy such displays and situations.
At times, he even appears to have an impulsive side.
The child believed to be Kim Ju-ae may have first appeared around August 2022.
At a performance celebrating the founding of the regime, one child stood out.
Her style was different from the other children, and more importantly, the media repeatedly focused on her.
South Korean and foreign media speculated that she was Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae.
Perhaps the North Korean government saw those reports?
Just a month later, the real Kim Ju-ae appeared before the public.
It felt almost like the proverb “when a crow flies, a pear falls”—her appearance seemed influenced by the earlier “false Ju-ae.”
Could it be that Kim Jong-un was upset or jealous that a girl who was not his daughter was being treated like a princess?
One month later, he proudly introduced his real daughter.
Her unusual debut surprised me as well, but I did not see it as a sign of succession.
I thought it was simply the emotional impulse of a father who wanted to show off his daughter.
“Beloved child.”
That was the first title given to her when she appeared.
Her clothing, expression, and gait immediately became a subject of interest not only in South Korea but perhaps worldwide.
One defector, upon seeing her dressed in Dior, exclaimed:
“In North Korea, people collapse from hunger, yet she wears a $3,000 dress—how can that be?”
But such outrage is meaningless, since the real victims—the North Korean people—know nothing of it.
They don’t even recognize names like Dior or Chanel, whether they refer to clothes or food.
But if they did know, what would happen?
Would they be angry that her dress cost the equivalent of a hundred years of their wages?
Or would they simply accept that she is a completely different kind of being from themselves?
Perhaps the government deliberately dressed her in Dior to give her an image of elegance.
Her appearances, which many thought would be brief, continued suspiciously often.
She accompanied Kim Jong-un on inspections of military units.
For a girl her age, such places are hardly comfortable to spend time with her father.
I wondered: could she possibly understand what was happening there—planning military operations, launching missiles, soldiers conducting drills?
And what was Kim Jong-un thinking, bringing along a daughter who could not possibly comprehend such matters?
To my eyes, she was simply a sweet little girl holding her father’s wrist while visiting a military base.
But at some point, North Korean media stopped calling her “beloved child.”
She became “respected child.”
Military events, the title of respect, and most recently, photos centered on her at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun—
What do all these point to?
They indicate that she is being positioned as the next generation’s leader.
Of course, speculation about succession existed from the very beginning.
But I dismissed it at first.
In a society like North Korea, steeped in male dominance, it seemed impossible for a woman to lead.
There is a saying in North Korea: “If the hen crows, the household will collapse.”
Here the hen symbolizes women, and it reflects the negative view of women raising their voices.
On New Year’s Day, people do not even accept greetings from women first, believing it will bring misfortune for the year.
In such a country, how could a woman be chosen as national leader?
For this reason, I thought it impossible that Kim Ju-ae would become successor.
But time has proven me wrong.
So why did Kim Jong-un make this choice?
Why take such a risk?
Does he believe his daughter is truly capable of leading North Korean society?
Or does he simply have no son to inherit the throne, leaving him no choice but to put forward Ju-ae?
Kim Jong-un seemed in a great hurry to announce his successor.
Some speculate about his health, but perhaps more importantly, he needed to imprint on people quickly that his successor is female.
“Respected child.”
Even though North Koreans cannot find anything in her worthy of respect, they will show respect.
What could be more important than survival?
The real question is what happens after Kim Jong-un dies.
Will this false loyalty continue even then?
From the outside, it seems Kim Jong-un has forced through an unreasonable choice for the sake of hereditary succession.
So let us consider what process the Kim family must inevitably face as a result.
If Kim Ju-ae becomes the next president, who will follow her?
Will it be a collateral branch of the Kim bloodline, or her own child?
If it is the former, it would be an unprecedented transfer of power in North Korea.
But given Kim Jong-un’s nature—he even killed his own brother to protect his power—did he ever consider such an alternative?
If it is the latter, then the Baekdu bloodline’s surname would change.
Could a Ri or a Park truly symbolize the Baekdu lineage instead of a Kim?
Or will Kim Jong-un preserve the symbolic “Kim” name by choosing a son-in-law from among men with that surname?
It is a fascinating situation.
Personally, I welcome the idea of Kim Ju-ae becoming president.
It would signal that the downfall of the Kim family is near.
The North Korean government loves to use the word “revolution”—technological revolution, cultural revolution, ideological revolution, and so on.
They attach “revolution” to everything.
But isn’t revolution supposed to mean overturning the old and creating something new?
When will a true revolution ever occur in North Korea?
How much longer can their hollow dynasty endure?
Born in Chongjin in 1990, Jang Mi was not a studious child, but under her mother’s influence, she graduated from high school and went on to university to take math and science. She worked as a wedding video editor for seven years until her defection in 2019.
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