Kim Jong Un chooses teen daughter as heir, says Seoul

Kim Ju Ae is the only known child of Kim Jong Un

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has selected his daughter as his heir, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday.

Little is known about Kim Ju Ae, who in recent months has been pictured beside her father in high-profile events like a visit to Beijing in September- her first known trip abroad.

The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) said it took a "range of circumstances" into account including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events" in making this assessment.

The news comes as North Korea is set to hold a party congress later this month - its largest political event that is held once every five years.

The party Congress is where where Pyongyang is expected to give more details about priorities like foreign policy, war planning and nuclear ambitions for the next five years.

Kim Ju Ae is the only known child of Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol-Ju. The NIA believes Kim has an older son, but this son has never been acknowledged or shown on North Korean media.

Instead, Ju Ae - who is believed to be 13 - made her first appearance on state television in 2022, shown inspecting North Korea's latest intercontinental ballistic missile while holding her father's hand.

She has since made frequent appearances on on state media, softening her father's image of a ruthless dictator. She also accompanied him to Beijing for China's largest-ever military parade, where she was seen stepping off his armoured train at Beijing Railway Station.

She is often seen wearing her hair long, which is forbidden for her peers, and wearing designer clothes, which are out of reach for most in her country.

The North Korean power had passed down the three generations of the Kim family, and it is widely believed that Kim will pass on the throne to his child.

In recent months, she was shown standing taller than her father, walking beside him, rather than following him.

In North Korea, where photos published by the state media are believed to carry a great symbolic weight, it is rare for individuals other than Kim to be positioned equally prominently in the frame.

Although the South Korean spy agency now believes Kim Ju Ae is the designated heir, it still raises questions.

It is puzzling why Ju Ae, a daughter, would be selected as the heir above an older son in North Korea's deeply patriarchal society.

Many defectors and analysts had previously dismissed the idea of a woman leading North Korea as an unlikely scenario, referring to the country's entrenched traditional gender roles.

It is also a mystery why Kim, who is still young and appears relatively healthy, is already designating a 13-year-old child as an heir now.

It is unclear what changes Ju Ae's succession may bring to North Korea.

Many North Koreans hoped that Kim Jong Un, a Western-educated young man, would open their country up to the outside when he succeeded his father.

Yet such hope went unanswered. Whatever the plan this teenager will have for her country, she will have the singular power to shape it however she likes.