N. Korea releases rare photo of leader's daughter firing rifle

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's daughter Ju-ae takes aim at a target with a sniper rifle at a firing range, Friday, in this photo carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the following day. Yonhap

North Korea released a rare solo photo, Saturday, of leader Kim Jong-un's daughter Ju-ae taking aim at a target with a sniper rifle, after she took center stage with her father at a key military parade.

In a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Ju-ae, wearing a leather coat, was seen taking aim at a target and firing the rifle, marking an unusual instance in which she appeared alone without Kim or other officials in an image distributed by Pyongyang.

The KCNA also released a photo of Ju-ae checking a target through a telescope beside her father.

"(The photos) emphasize that Kim Ju-ae knows how to fire a gun, implying she is undergoing training as a successor," said Yang Moo-jin, a senior professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

The photos add further weight to the South Korean spy agency's recent assessment that the teenager may be positioned to succeed her father as state leader.