This Is Why The teen who could lead North Korea: Who is Kim Jong Un's young’un?
Feb 13, 2026
Hazel Smith, SOAS professor and North Korea expert, discusses Kim Ju Ae and the regime's succession theater. She unpacks propaganda shaping the Kim family's mystique. She outlines how elite networks, secrecy and risks shape a potential heir's sheltered life. The conversation traces early public appearances and the intelligence puzzles around succession.
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Myth Drives Political Continuity
- North Korea's regime promotes the Kim family myth as the source of unquestionable legitimacy.
- Hazel Smith says this mythology underpins political continuity and domestic indoctrination.
Rodman First Mentioned The Girl
- Dennis Rodman's visits first revealed Kim Jong-un's baby girl to the outside world.
- Hazel Smith recounts Rodman saying he held the infant, which later tied to her rising public profile.
Public Visibility Signals Succession
- Public appearances of the daughter signal the regime's plan to show dynastic succession.
- South Korean intelligence interprets her visibility as an attempt to project continuity of rule.
