North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s Daughter Ju Ae Likely Successor

11th September 2025 at 5:22 PM

2 minutes read

New Delhi : In most Asian societies, which are patriarchal, the interests of women have suffered due to lack of family support in education. Some societies went to the extent of female foeticide and infanticide. India began a movement to address this—Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. North Korea is one of the world’s most insular and deeply patriarchal societies, where political power has always been concentrated in the hands of male leaders.

Women, despite their significant participation in the workforce, are often relegated to other roles and face rigid social hierarchies. If Kim Ju Ae takes over, it would not only mark a historic break from generations of male rule in Pyongyang but could also challenge gender norms in North Korea. On Thursday, South Korea’s spy agency confirmed that Kim Ju Ae is understood to be his recognised the successor. Kim met China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin on that trip. He might have used this opportunity to introduce afresh his heir apparent.

South Korea’s spy agency National Intelligence Service (NIS) inferred that Ju Ae’s status was evident in state media photos and a special documentary showing her accompanying Kim Jong Un in China. The agency perceives Kim Ju Ae as the recognised heir and sees her participation in the China visit as part of completing that succession narrative, AFP quoted Lee as saying.

It aimed to prevent such practices, ensure girls’ survival, promote education, and empower them through awareness campaigns and welfare improvements in targeted districts. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme has worked for India. Over a decade, results include a rise in the national sex ratio at birth from 918 (2014-15) to 933 (2022-23), according to data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

North Korea, and in fact both the Koreas, are patriarchal in nature, and Kim Jong Un’s move to promote his successor, which we are referring to as Beti Badhao, will help in women’s empowerment. In traditional Korean society, Confucian principles have been deeply entrenched, leading to a rigid patriarchal family structure, with the eldest male at the top of the family structure. This structure prioritises family as a collective over individual wishes.

The 4B movement in South Korea in which women said no to heterosexual relationships, dating, marriage, and childbirth was aimed at fighting patriarchy. They even said no sexual relationship with men. The 4B movement inspired American women after Donald Trump’s 2024 victory in the US presidential election. Since Kim Ju Ae’s public debut in November 2022 at an intercontinental ballistic missile launch, she has been increasingly visible, appearing at military parades, diplomatic events, and the opening of the Wonsan-Kalma resort.

Despite her young age, estimated at 12 or 13, her prominence suggests Kim Jong Un is strategically positioning her to navigate North Korea’s male-dominated elite, potentially reshaping gender dynamics in the regime. Critics, including former NIS director Park Jie-won, argue that her youth and lack of political experience make her ascension premature, and North Korea’s Confucian-influenced culture may resist a female leader.