Lady Seen with Kim Jong Un Is His Second Youngster, Seoul Says

SEOUL, South Korea — The daughter of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un who was just lately seen in public for the primary time at a missile launch web site is his second youngster, South Korea’s spy company instructed lawmakers Tuesday, as hypothesis swirled about his motives for bringing her to the eye of the skin world.

On Saturday, North Korea mentioned that Kim noticed the launch of the nation’s strongest intercontinental ballistic missile — Hwasong-17 — yesterday together with his spouse Ri Sol Ju and their “beloved daughter.” State media launched images displaying Kim strolling hand-in-hand with a younger woman clad in a white coat and crimson footwear previous a large missile positioned on a launch truck, and watching a hovering weapon from a distance.

In a closed-door briefing at a parliament committee, South Korea’s Nationwide Intelligence Service, the nation’s primary spy company, instructed lawmakers that it assesses the daughter is Kim’s second youngster named Ju Ae, Yoo Sang-bum, one of many lawmakers who attended the assembly, mentioned.

Youn Kun-young, who additionally attended the NIS briefing, confirmed the substance of Yoo’s feedback however refused to offer additional particulars.

The daughter apparently is Kim’s youngster who retired NBA star Dennis Rodman noticed throughout his journey to Pyongyang in 2013. After that Pyongyang go to, Rodman instructed the British newspaper Guardian that he and Kim had a “enjoyable time by the ocean” with the chief’s household and that he held Kim’s child daughter, named Ju Ae.

It was the primary time North Korea formally confirmed her existence. North Korea’s state media didn’t disclose the age, identify and different particulars of Kim’s daughter final week. South Korean media have speculated Kim married Ri in 2009 and that they’ve three kids, who had been born in 2010, 2013 and 2017, respectively.

Kim, 38, is a 3rd technology of his household to run North Korea since 1948. He inherited energy in late 2011 upon the loss of life of his father Kim Jong Il.

Kim and his father had been each first talked about in state media dispatches after they turned adults. Provided that, the revealing of the daughter believed to be in her early teenagers got here as a shock to exterior observers.

Some consultants say the daughter’s disclosing at a missile check web site confirmed that Kim was emboldened by his advancing nuclear arsenal, the spine of his household’s rule. Others speculate if Kim continues to convey her to main public occasions, that might recommend that Kim might need her as his early inheritor obvious in his thoughts.

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