The debate over the successor to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Kim is heating up after Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, attended a military parade on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) on Feb. 8.
One of the notable features of the military parade was the emergence of a new slogan about “defending the Mount Paektu Bloodline to the death.” But rather than officially designating Kim Ju Ae as Kim Jong Un’s successor, analysts say, the slogan was probably designed to underscore the permanence of Kim Jong Un’s rule.
NEW SLOGAN EMERGES FROM MILITARY PARADE
A video of the military parade that was broadcast on Korean Central Television on Feb. 9 showed North Korean soldiers chanting the slogans, “Safeguard Kim Jong Un to the death! Defend the Mount Paektu Bloodline to the death!”
The second of those slogans has never been chanted at any previous military parades in North Korea, a matter that even drew attention from North Korean cadres. That means that this military parade served to show people inside North Korea that the KPA’s duty of protection has been extended from the supreme leader to the Mount Paektu Bloodline as a whole.
“This was a public revelation of the fact that the military, which is a pivotal force for propping up the North Korean regime, is playing a key role in guarding the succession to the fourth generation,” said Oh Gyeong-seob, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
According to Oh, the North Korean authorities made clear through this military parade that they mean to hand over power to the fourth generation of the Kim dynasty.
Other analysts say that this military parade was focused on underscoring the permanence of the North Korean regime in a broader sense than fourth-generation succession.
“Kim Jong Un’s recent actions and official documents published in North Korea keep emphasizing the permanence of the single leader principle, which is something we hadn’t seen before. The thrust is that the Mount Paektu Bloodline system, based on Kim Jong Un’s family, will continue in the long term, and this military parade is part of that context,” said an analyst on North Korea, who spoke to Daily NK on condition of anonymity.
That emphasis was also evident in remarks that Kim made during a speech on a visit to the party’s Central Cadres Training School in October 2022.
“We need to establish the demeanor and ethos of the Workers’ Party that will last for a hundred years or a thousand years,” Kim said. “The Workers’ Party will raise up competent political workers and cadres to whom we can safely entrust affairs over the next 50 years, 100 years and centuries to come.”
TOO SOON TO BE SURE ABOUT SUCCESSOR
Regardless, the prevailing view among experts is that it is too soon to regard Kim Ju Ae as Kim’s successor.
“Kim Ju Ae is only a figure who symbolizes the Mount Paektu Bloodline and succession to the fourth generation. It would not be appropriate to make judgements about whether or not she will be the successor based on her attendance at a string of recent events,” Oh said.
“Kim Ju Ae’s appearance at events related to North Korea’s nuclear program has greatly increased external interest in the North Korean regime. From North Korea’s point of view, Kim Ju Ae has been a fantastic promotional model as it emphasizes once more to the outside world that it will never abandon its nuclear program for the sake of its future generation,” he added.
In Oh’s opinion, Kim Ju Ae’s appearance at nuclear-related events is supposed to reveal to both domestic and international audiences that North Korea is a nuclear weapon state in both word and deed.
Questions have also been raised about why Kim Jong Un would have put the spotlight on Kim Ju Ae — who is neither his firstborn nor a son — if he has started laying the foundation for continuing dynastic rule.
“Given the absolute authority of the ruler in North Korea, the crucial criterion for disclosing matters related to the succession is whether or not they will benefit the ruling system,” said Kim In-tae, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy.
“Given that [efforts to promote] the cult of personality around leader Kim Jong Un is currently underway, Kim Ju Ae is being used as a symbol of future generations, rather than being [designated as] the successor.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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