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Article in North Korean political journal fuels speculation on succession preparations

Published: 08 Jan. 2026, 16:11 Updated: 08 Jan. 2026, 20:20

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, pays tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun with his daughter Kim Ju-ae, center, and wife Ri Sol-ju in Pyongyang on Jan. 1. [RODONG SINMUN]

North Korea is attempting to establish a "successor" to inherit the role of supreme leader, according to an issue of the ruling party's political theory journal.

The March 2025 issue of North Korean publication Geunroja stressed the importance of determining a successor to maintain the political system.

The message came as Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, resumed public appearances after about three months of being out of the public eye. The move fueled speculation that the Workers’ Party of Korea may have begun ideological education for party officials with a succession framework in mind.

The observation comes as Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday that the March 2025 issue of Geunroja included an article titled “The Workers’ Party of Korea Is a Great Party That Brilliantly Resolved the Issue of Succession in Leadership.”

The article's writer said the Workers’ Party had made clear that the “core” of solving the "issue of designating a successor to inherit the status and role of the political head and establishing leadership” was “to put forward a successor who inherits the status and role of the political supreme leader and to establish his leadership system.”

The piece cited the “work of endorsing [the successor] in line with the people’s respect and trust and the party's organizational will,” as well as the “work of establishing the successor’s leadership system while the supreme leader is alive," as basic requirements.

It also emphasized the need to protest against what it described as “all manner of unhealthy phenomena and elements” that run counter to the successor’s “sole leadership system,” and added that cultivating loyalty to the successor among officials, party members and workers is necessary.

The piece argued that the party had already established a “great tradition” of succession, citing cases in which Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un began succession preparations while their predecessors were still alive. It specifically referenced the 1970s, when Kim Jong-il consolidated control of the party as successor under his father, Kim Il Sung.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, greets residents with his daughter Kim Ju-ae, left, at a completion ceremony for Jonwi Street in northern Pyongyang in May 2024. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

It added that Kim Jong-il, too, “took a deep interest from early on and devoted great effort” to raising “the respected Comrade Kim Jong-un” as a “great successor” to carry on the Juche revolutionary cause.

Kim Jong-un was widely assessed to have had a shorter training period than his father, leaving his political footing relatively weak in the early years of his rule. Observers have also said his execution of his uncle Jang Song-thaek, and a sweeping purge of senior officials across the party, government and military soon after he took power, were part of efforts to shore up his authority as a young leader.

That context has fueled analysis that Kim may be trying to accelerate preparations for his own successor to ensure ample time for consolidation.

Kim Ju-ae, widely mentioned as a leading contender, first appeared publicly in November 2022 at a launch of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, when she was reportedly around 10 years old.

The timing of the article — March 2025 — has also drawn attention. Kim Ju-ae did not appear in public for three months after accompanying her father to a January 2025 test launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second to right, inspects preparations to open major service facilities in the third-stage section of Pyongyang’s Hwasong area with his daughter Kim Ju-ae, right, in April 2025. [RODONG SINMUN]

She resurfaced in early April, shortly after the article was published, at a construction site for convenience facilities in Pyongyang’s Hwasong District. She was seen wearing a leather jacket and a pantsuit and appeared to be nearly as tall as her father.

North Korea has long promoted a personality cult around Kim Jong-un — portraying him as a “young general” who handled a gun and hit targets from the age of 3 — and is believed to be carrying out a similar campaign around Kim Ju-ae.

Park Young-ja, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said at a forum last Friday — citing testimony from defectors — that Kim Ju-ae is being described inside North Korea as a “computer genius.” Park said a narrative is taking shape that hails Kim Ju-ae as a “computer-genius, rising-star, young female general” who joins in building the country’s nuclear forces.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO, PARK HYUN-JU [[email protected]]