North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took his daughter to a football game celebrating his late father’s birthday.
State media said the presence of Mr Kim and his “beloved” daughter Kim Ju Ae, who is believed to be around 10, brought “joy and excitement” to the match.
It is the sixth in a series of public appearances that has aroused speculation over whether she is being primed for a leadership role or successor to her father.
Her last came on 9 February, a parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of North Korea’s army, where her father unveiled a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that he could test in the coming months.
She also appears alongside her father in several new postal stamps released to mark an ICBM test last November, which the country said was a success.
The football match was described by official Korean Central News Agency as a “significant sports and cultural event”, with photos published by North Korea‘s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showing Mr Kim and his daughter smiling and clapping from the VIP seats.
Kim Yo Jong, Mr Kim’s sister and one of his top foreign policy officials, was seen sitting in a row behind, watching the match between staff members from the cabinet and the defence ministry.
Typically, Kim Ju Ae joins her father at events overtly related to his nuclear ambitions.
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In her first ever appearance on state media, she was brought to observe a flight test of an ICBM.
Analysts say this is her father’s way of reminding the world he will never voluntarily surrender his arsenal, which he clearly sees as the strongest guarantee of his survival and the extension of his family’s dynastic rule.
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However, North Korea has a historically male-dominated hierarchy – ad Mr Kim is believed to be just 39.
He is thought to have as many as three children with his wife Ri Sol Ju – two girls and a boy.
