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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, stands hand-in-hand with his daughter at a ballistic missile launch site at Pyongyang International Airport, Friday, in this photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency, the following day. Yonhap |
Public debut of 'secret' daughter shows country's determination on nukes issue
By Kang Seung-woo
An unexpected appearance of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's daughter indicates that he has no plans on giving up his nation's nuclear program, evidenced by his strong conviction in his arsenal of weapons, which can protect him from hostile forces, according to Pyongyang analysts, Sunday.
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released photos, Saturday, showing Kim hand-in-hand with his daughter at a missile launch site in Pyongyang, the previous day when the country successfully test-fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, the missile ― the eighth launch this year alone ― traveled some 1,000 kilometers at an altitude of 6,100 kilometers, further ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Despite the successful launch of North Korea's largest and most powerful missile with a range capability allowing it to strike anywhere in the United States, it was overshadowed by the images of Kim's little-known daughter, leaving government officials here and analysts scrambling to analyze the meaning behind the dictator's daughter's first official appearance in state media.
"It is self-confidence in its nuclear weapons," said Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University.
"When North Korea prepared for high-intensity provocations by launching a Hwasong-17 missile, the North Korean leadership did not show up (at the launch site) out of fears that the South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities can detect it. However, Kim brought his wife and daughter to the missile test site, based on the strong belief that South Korea and the U.S. cannot take any countermeasures against his country with nuclear weapons."
Rep. Tae Yong-ho, a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said the photos showed that North Korea's abandoning of its nuclear weapons is not going to happen although South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are seriously urging China to play a role in pressuring Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.
"By showing his daughter at a missile test site, Kim is showing his strong yet unchangeable determination of responding to nuclear threats with nuclear weapons," he said, Sunday.
The unexpected appearance of his daughter whose existence had not previously been confirmed also raised speculation that the leader is now priming his daughter to be the next leader of the dynastic totalitarian dictatorship.
North Korea was founded by Kim Il-sung in 1948, who was succeeded by Kim Jong-il, in 1994, the founder's son and the current leader's father. Kim Jong-un has led the secretive state since 2012.
However, experts think the theory about succession goes a bit too far.
"It is not the traditional way that North Korea introduces a new heir," said Go Myong-hyun, a senior fellow of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
According to him, the Kim regime usually makes a much bigger set of preparations, including glorifying and enhancing the successor's background as well as other things, before introducing someone who is next in line, but there was nothing like that on this occasion.
"As for Friday's launch, Kim and the nuclear weapons took center stage," Go added.
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