North Korea’s Kim Jong Un used the days after a weeklong ruling party congress to reinforce images of top-level loyalty and military readiness, state media reported, including a prominent role for his young daughter at a shooting range. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim handed out new sniper rifles to senior party and military officials on Friday, linking the gifts to what KCNA called his “absolute trust” and gratitude for their work over the past five years since the last Workers’ Party congress in 2021.
KCNA’s account also highlighted Kim Yo Jong’s elevated party role following the congress. The report said Kim’s powerful sister now serves as general affairs director of the party’s central committee, after a promotion at the meetings, and showed her and other senior officials aiming the rifles that Kim had presented. The congress, which ended Wednesday in Pyongyang after seven days, was North Korea’s most significant political event held every five years since 2016.
The rifle-gifting and shooting-range footage arrived as state media increasingly features Kim Ju Ae, the teenage daughter that analysts believe is named Kim Ju Ae and is about 13 years old. KCNA photos described her wearing a brown leather coat similar to her father’s as smoke rose from the barrel while she handled the weapon. Observers have taken note of the way her public appearances have broadened beyond major ceremonies into settings that include military demonstrations and factory openings.
KCNA reported that Kim Ju Ae has accompanied her father since first appearing publicly at a long-range missile test in November 2022. The coverage also pointed to her presence at a trip to Beijing in September, where Kim Jong Un held his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years. At this year’s congress, KCNA said she was not seen attending sessions, but she was featured with Kim at center stage during a military parade on Wednesday night marking the congress’s conclusion.
South Korean officials and outside experts have said they closely monitored the congress for signs of an effort to extend the Kim dynasty to a fourth generation by cementing Kim Ju Ae as successor. Earlier this month, South Korea’s spy agency said it assessed Kim Jong Un was close to designating his daughter as heir. Some experts told AP that if Kim used the congress to solidify a succession plan, the signals would likely appear indirectly—through carefully worded statements and praise for continuity rather than through a formal, immediate appointment.
The congress itself focused on Kim’s security and ideological agenda, state media said. At the meetings, he doubled down on plans to accelerate North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and reiterated his hard-line stance toward South Korea, according to AP’s report of KCNA coverage. At the same time, Kim left the door open to dialogue with the United States by reiterating Pyongyang’s earlier position calling for Washington to drop denuclearization demands as a prerequisite for resuming long-stalled talks.
KCNA also described the congress as laying groundwork for “the sacred effort to ensure and realize the glorious succession and development of our party,” in a report that assessed the meetings on Thursday.