Kim Jong Un watches cruise missile tests with his daughter, KCNA says

Kim Jong Un and his daughter watched North Korea conduct strategic cruise missile tests launched from the destroyer Choe Hyon, according to state media reported by the ACNC on Wednesday. The images sent by the Korean Central News Agency showed the North Korean leader and the child in a conference room looking at a screen displaying the launches, the report said.

ACNC reported that Kim Jong Un watched the missile launches by video on Tuesday and highlighted the need to maintain a “poderoso y confiable disuasivo de guerra nuclear,” while a separate dispatch noted that the wording did not mention his daughter. The state media described the missiles as being fired from the Choe Hyon, a naval destroyer that ACNC identified as having been in service for about a year.

North Korean state media said the missiles struck target islands off the west coast of North Korea and that Kim Jong Un said the firings were intended to show the navy’s strategic offensive posture. ACNC also said the tests were meant to familiarize troops with the weapons, presenting the drills as both a demonstration and a training step.

The daughter pictured with Kim Jong Un was not present, at least publicly in the same state-media way, during similar cruise missile launches the previous week, according to the report. The Wednesday dispatch said Kim Jong Un personally watched comparable launches from the Choe Hyon last week, but his daughter was not seen during that occasion.

ACNC said the Tuesday launches came after the start of U.S. and South Korea’s spring military exercises, which North Korea considers a rehearsal for invasion. Against that backdrop, the report said North Korea threatened to respond to the exercises, linking the missile test to a broader warning posture.

The report also said South Korea’s intelligence service assessed last month that Kim Jong Un was close to designating Kim Ju Ae—described in reporting as about 13 years old—as his heir. It said she has accompanied her father in prominent events, including military parades and weapons launches, since late 2022.