[imagesource: KCNA / Reuters]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be incredibly secretive about his personal life but he definitely enjoys showing off his terrifying governance and military prowess on every possible occasion.

Weirdly enough, his public and personal worlds merged on Friday, as the dictator finally introduced everyone to his adolescent daughter while inspecting a weapon of mass destruction.

The girl, believed to be named Kim Chu-ae per the BBC, was seen holding Kim’s hand at an inspection of a major intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

Several photos were released by North Korea’s state news agency KCNA, showing the pair hand in hand, chatting with each other and officials, all while checking out missiles and watching the launch from a viewing deck.

The images are the first official confirmation of the existence of the North Korean leader’s daughter:

Image: KCNA via Reuters

While we may be shaking our heads in bewilderment, the weapon capable of hitting the US, Japan, or South Korea in one smooth shot serves as the most appropriate backdrop for Kim to show off his budding family.

It has only ever been speculated that Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju (who was also kept secret for some time) had three children, born in 2010, 2013, and 2017, notes Al Jazeera:

The only previous confirmation that the couple had children had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who made a quixotic visit to Pyongyang in 2013 and claimed he had met Kim’s daughter.

Nonetheless, the world is pausing for this over-the-top introduction:

To introduce his daughter to the world at this juncture could be designed to send an international message that the North Korean regime is here to stay, Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the RAND Corporation, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

“In a way, it’s a symbolic picture of Kim passing the sceptre of rule to the next generation,” Soo Kim said, adding that the photos also suggest “a degree of closeness and comfort between Kim and his daughter”, which could indicate that she is being groomed for future leadership.

North Korea has been ruled as a hereditary dictatorship since its founding in 1948 by Kim Il Sung, so the bloodline must continue.

Bring your child to work day is not supposed to be this alarming:

So, Kim Jong-un just decided to reveal his daughter for the first time publicly at an ICBM launch??? pic.twitter.com/tiE8gWixAJ

— Joseph Dempsey (@JosephHDempsey) November 18, 2022

Otherwise, it is a carefully stage-managed attempt to make Kim look normal, per North Korean studies scholar Ahn Chan-il:

“Pyongyang seems to be trying to brand itself as a ‘normal’ nation – while conducting these ICBM launches that show off its military prowess – by showing images of Kim being a seemingly loving father,” Ahn said.

“It is also a gesture of stabilising the regime by declaring to the outside world that it is now heading for its fourth-generation succession and that it is well-prepared for it.”

The leader did also recently reveal what a pop concert looks like, something that was probably supposed to paint the nation as functioning normally, but folks are seeing straight through the strange guise.

CNN reported that the girl’s presence should be seen through a domestic lens, according to Leif-Eric Easley, an associate professor of international studies at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul:

“Outside North Korea, it may appear deranged to pose for the cameras hand in hand with a child in front of a long-range missile designed to deliver a nuclear weapon to a distant city,” Easley said.

“But inside North Korea, a purportedly successful launch of the world’s largest road-mobile ICBM is cause for national celebration.”

Nobody is quite sure why the approximately nine to 13-year-old girl was revealed at this precise moment, but let the world be well aware that Kim Jong Un’s nukes are here to stay.

Right through to the next generation, at that.

[sources:aljazeera&bbc&cnn]