North Korea Releases Photos of Kim Jong Un's Daughter Firing Weapon, Succession Speculation Intensifies

North Korea’s state media released photographs showing Kim Ju Ae, daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, firing what appeared to be a pistol. The images have reignited speculation that Kim Ju Ae is being groomed as an heir to the throne.

According to AFP on Thursday (12 March 2026), Pyongyang’s state media released images of Ju Ae firing what appeared to be a pistol with one eye closed, as muzzle flash erupted from the weapon.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Ju Ae attended the event alongside her father at a major “ammunition factory” that produces new pistols and other “portable light weapons.”

State media photographs showed both figures wearing matching leather jackets—often regarded as symbols of power in North Korea—receiving briefings from officials as they inspected the facility.

At the venue, the leader Kim visited the factory’s “shooting gallery” where he had the opportunity to personally test the new-type pistol himself, and expressed satisfaction with the weapon’s “superiority.”

The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron fist for several decades, and the personality cult surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in this isolated nation.

Despite her youth, “the regime apparently seeks to cultivate the image of a strong and tough woman,” said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University in South Korea, telling AFP. “The pistol-shooting scene clearly signals that she is being cultivated with the attributes of a military leader,” he added.

Ju Ae was introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to a intercontinental ballistic missile launch. Before that, the only confirmation of her existence came from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea in 2013.