Video and images carried by North Korean state media showed her right behind her father and ahead of Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui as they got off a train in Beijing, clapping as officials at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing bowed to her father, and standing near him as he was seated with senior officials in a meeting room inside his train.
Some question her chances to take over a male-dominated system
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service issued a careful assessment last year that it views Kim Ju Ae as her father’s likely successor, citing a comprehensive analysis of her public activities and the state protocols provided to her.
However, some outside experts disagree with that assessment, citing Kim Jong Un’s relatively young age and the extremely male-dominated nature of North Korea’s power hierarchy.
In its recent briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service assessed that Kim has no major health issues and that he conducted official schedules in China smoothly.
Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family — Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung.
Kim Jong Un inherited power in late 2011 upon his father’s death.
