Kim Jong Un grooming daughter for power: 12-year-old Ju Ae poised for future leadership

The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported this morning (Monday) that the daughter of Kim Jong Un, the ruler of North Korea, is undergoing training to succeed her father in the future and stand at the head of the isolated country.

The report is based on Seoul's intelligence agency, and comes after a string of public appearances by the daughter, Kim Ju Ae. Following the joint appearances, it was estimated that Ju Ae was marked by her father as his heir. It is now claimed in Seoul that Kim's men have already begun preparing 12-year-old Ju Ae for the day she will replace her father.

The North Korean ruling family is very jealous of its privacy, and few details are known about it. The number of children Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju have is unconfirmed, but according to reports the couple has a first-born son and two daughters. According to these reports, the middle daughter is Ju Ae, about 12 years old. Ju Ae's name was revealed in the West thanks to former NBA star Dennis Rodman, a friend of Kim. When he returned in 2013 from a visit to Pyongyang, he said he held Ju Ae while spending time with her family at the beach.

In the past two years, Ju Ae appeared alongside her father at several public events, and among other things, she visited a missile manufacturing plant and met soldiers in the North Korean army with her father. The North Korean media, which calls Ju Ae the "respectable daughter" and the "beloved girl", did not address the girl's political future.