Signs Point to Kim Ju-ae as Kim’s Successor (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Has North Korea's next leader already been decided, or could there be others waiting in the wings? South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, just strengthened its assessment that the girl believed to be Kim Ju-ae is being positioned as the likely successor to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. She first appeared publicly at a missile launch in late 2022, and one thing stood out immediately. She looks a lot like her father. Optics like that matter in North Korea. Since then, we've seen her at multiple missile tests, massive military parades, a high-level banquet, even standing center frame beside generals and senior party officials already visually outranking many in the room. She's even walked ahead of her own mother during major public appearances, including at the open of the Wonsan-Gama Beach Resort. That kind of exposure and that symbolism does not come by accident in North Korea. But here's the twist. Kim is believed to have other children. There's long been speculation about a possible older son, and if that son exists, the succession plans could change quickly if he ever steps forward. Succession in North Korea is not just about age or even gender. It's about power. Who can command loyalty from the party, the military, and the elites? Remember, Kim Jong-un himself had only a brief period in the public eye before his father died in 2011. He had been staying at a private boarding school in Switzerland before much of the world even knew he existed. His father, North Korea's second leader, Kim Jong-il, had decades in the spotlight before taking over from the country's founding leader, Kim Il-sung. Seoul's latest intelligence assessment about Kim Ju-ae's future is the strongest to date, but in North Korea, nothing's official until it's official. So until we know for certain, the possibility of a son keeps this succession story wide open.