Explaining North Korea’s missile program
Kim Jong Un has tested more missiles than his father and grandfather combined. Why did North Korea have so much military spending power? Let me explain.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may nominate his teenage daughter as the next leader, a South Korean lawmaker announced on January 12.
Citing a spy agency briefing, the East Asian country’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that it is taking steps to secure her daughter’s successor as the country’s fourth-generation leader, and there are “indications that she is providing input on policy issues,” according to Reuters.
North Korean state media captured Kim Jue, who appears to be in her early teens, accompanying her father on a tour of a weapons project, sparking speculation that she is being groomed to take his father’s place.
Rep. Lee Seong-gwon told reporters after the NIS’s private press conference, “Previously, the NIS said Kim Ju Ae was “considering her as a successor,” but today the expression was changed to “We are in the process of internally appointing her as a successor.”
It was not immediately clear whether her 42-year-old father intended to step down as the country’s top leader, despite expectations from lawmakers.
“The National Intelligence Service believes that the role she has assumed at public events indicates that she has begun to provide input on policy, and that she is being treated as a de facto second-rank leader,” Lee and another lawmaker, Park Sung-won, said.
Kim Jong-un, the country’s third dictator, came to power in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.
President Donald Trump talks about King Kim Jong Un
In 2019, President Donald Trump met with Kim Jong Un, becoming the first US president to set foot on North Korean territory. President Trump met with the leaders three times during his first term.
Since returning to the White House, the president has said he is open to meeting again with Kim Jong Un, saying the two have “good relations.”
North Korea’s supreme leader has said he will not negotiate with the United States if American officials remain focused on denuclearizing the peninsula.
Contributed by: Reuters
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
