NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n South Korea’s<\/a> espionage agency, the National Intelligence Service, informed lawmakers Thursday that it thinks North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter is near to being set apart as the regime’s future leader, The Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n Kim is the third generation of men in his family to rule North Korea<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a closed-door briefing, NIS officials said they are closely monitoring whether Kim\u2019s daughter \u2014 believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and around 13 years old \u2014 appears with him before thousands of delegates at the upcoming Workers\u2019 Party Congress, said lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the meeting.<\/p>\n NORTH KOREA EXECUTED TEENS FOR LISTENING TO K-POP, WATCHING \u2018SQUID GAME\u2019: REPORT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n This picture taken on Jan. 27, 2026, and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Jan. 28, 2026, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae (R) inspecting a test firing of the renewed large-caliber rocket launcher system, at an undisclosed location in North Korea.\u00a0<\/span> (KCNA VIA KNS\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “In the past, (NIS) described Kim Ju Ae as being in the midst of \u2018successor training.\u2019 What was notable today is that they used the term \u2018successor-designate stage,\u2019 a shift that\u2019s quite significant,” Lee noted, according to the outlet<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2023, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service indicated to lawmakers that the North Korean leader and his wife probably had an older son as well as younger, third child of unknown gender, according to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n PENTAGON PLANS TO GIVE SOUTH KOREA PRIMARY ROLE IN DETERRING NORTH KOREA THREATS UNDER NEW STRATEGY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n This picture taken on Jan. 27, 2026, and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Jan. 28, 2026, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) and his daughter Kim Ju Ae (front) inspecting a test firing of the renewed large-caliber rocket launcher system, at an undisclosed location in North Korea.\u00a0<\/span> (KCNA VIA KNS \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n North Korea is one of the world’s few nuclear-armed<\/a> nations, making it a unique threat on the global stage.<\/p>\n A 2025 U.S. Intelligence Community Annual Threat Assessment<\/a> stated that “Kim remains committed to increasing the number of North Korea\u2019s nuclear warheads and improving its missile capabilities to threaten the Homeland and U.S. forces, citizens, and allies, and to weaken U.S. power in the AsiaPacific region, as evidenced by the pace of the North\u2019s missile flight tests and the regime\u2019s public touting of its uranium enrichment capabilities.”<\/p>\n![\"North](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1200\/675\/kim-jong-un-and-daughter-kim-ju-ae.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
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