It wasn’t nuclear missiles, goose-stepping ranks of soldiers or medal-wearing generals that drew attention at North Korea’s recent military parade: it was a 10-year-old girl.
Alongside the leader of the country Kim Jong Un, the girl – possibly the second child of Kim’s Ju Ae – checked to keep the honor in the latest from killing the high-profile appearance that has spread fervent speculation that he has anointed the heir.
AFP takes a look at what we know:
Who is he?
For years, North Korean state media has made no mention of Kim’s children, although Seoul’s spy agency says he has three with his wife. They are believed to be aged around 13, 10 and six.
The only previous confirmation of her existence came from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who claimed to have met Kim’s baby girl called Ju Ae during a 2013 visit to North Korea.
But three months ago, during the launch of the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim came with his “beloved” daughter.
Although North Korea has never officially identified her name, Seoul’s spy agency and analysts believe the girl is Ju Ae, Kim’s second child.
Is he Kim’s heir?
It certainly seems that way, experts say.
State media have called Kim’s daughter “beloved” and “respected”, and she has been shown walking alongside her father – while her mother follows her.
This suggests North Korea has started building a “cult of personality” around Ju Ae, said Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at South Korea’s Sejong Institute.
“It is a sign that he has been designated as the de facto successor even though he does not yet have the official ‘successor’ status”, he said.
In the state media image, Ju Ae has been placed in the middle, next to her father and surrounded by the top brass of the state.
“This shows that Kim Ju Ae will be the supreme commander of the military in the future,” Cheong added.
Will North Korea accept a female leader?
When it comes to women taking on political leadership roles, North Korea’s glass ceiling is bulletproof, says Bronwen Dalton, head of the management department at the University of Technology Sydney’s business school.
But there are changes, he said, and the leadership of North Korea is trying to “maintain its legitimacy by creating a new version of womanhood” that shows social changes in the country over recent decades.
The young generation has “grown up buying and selling in the market, using mobile phones and accessing foreign media content”, which has forced North Korea to recalibrate its version of the ideal woman.
North Korea’s current leadership, although predominantly male, has several prominent women, including foreign minister Choe Son-hui and Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong as the regime’s spokeswoman.
Kim Jong Un “expects a propaganda apparatus that creates a new narrative about the place of women”, Dalton told AFP.
But above all, the most important role of all North Korean women remains “devotion to ‘father’ Kim Jong Un”, which Ju Ae embodies perfectly, he added.
So he’s definitely going to be in charge one day?
Not always, experts say.
“Maybe more than other countries, relying on family ties and being close to power is not precarious,” Dalton said, pointing to the “revolving door” of family members who have been exiled from North Korea or killed.
“Women are not immune,” she added.
A female leader remains “impossible” in North Korea today, An Chan-il, a defector turned researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.
“Nobody will accept the idea that Kim Jong Un will disappear immediately and Ju Ae will have to replace him,” he said.
But their gradual introduction to the public over the next decade or two, coupled with “ideological education”, should help, he said.
“North Koreans rarely ask who is in charge.”
What about Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal?
While North Korea is not a monarchy, Kim Jong Un is the third generation of his family to rule the country, after his father and grandfather, founding leader Kim Il Sung.
For the Kims, one of the most important elements in maintaining the regime is their nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
“North Korea’s nuclear missile celebration may seem like a strange event to project a child-friendly image,” but it is effective domestic propaganda, Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told AFP.
“Kim described Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal as a multigenerational asset for national security while declaring the military’s full loyalty to his political dynasty.”