Seoul’s intelligence makes some assumptions about the North Korean marshal’s family and next moves. And the sister reappears
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT BEIJING Kim Jong-un’s missiles and sons continue to keep South Korea’s intelligence on alert. In a briefing to parliamentarians in Seoul, the secret services warned that thein North Korea is preparing major military maneuvers and the launch of a new ICBM in the coming weeks. But this is now routine for Pyongyang’s activity.
After the briefing, some deputies said they asked intelligence officials questions about Kim’s family. The starting point that the Marshal for a few months began to carry a little girl in public defined by regime propaganda as respected and beloved daughter. According to South Korean agents it is about Ju-ae, he would be 10 or 11 years old. And she would be the middle child of the three brought into the world by Ri Sol-ju, wife of the dictator. As the girl’s appearances alongside her father multiplied, analysts began to wonder whether Kim is not preparing the ground for the dynastic succession. There is therefore also great interest in the rest of the family: Kim’s first child would be a boy, possibly born in 2010, never seen in public, name never communicated; in 2013 Ju-ae would arrive, the great protagonist since November, when dad took her to the launch of an intercontinental Hwasong-17, defined as a monster missile due to its size; in 2017 last birth in the Kim house: gender unknown, someone says another female, but South Korean intelligence does not confirm it.
In the briefing to South Korean parliamentarians, the belief that Kim Jong-un actually have a son as well. But no educated guess has been made as to why the Marshal has never shown it in public, especially now that he delights in smiling with little Ju-ae as he oversees missile launches and parades of tanks and nuclear or attend banquets with the generals.
It also made itself felt Kim Yo-jong, the marshal’s sister acting as adviser and propaganda director: if the Americans were to intercept a North Korean test-launched ICBM, Pyongyang would consider it a declaration of war, said the lady. Sister Kim refers to an (unconfirmed) statement attributed by the South Korean press to Admiral John C. Aquilino, American commander in the Indo-Pacific theater. According to the Seoul-based Chosun Ilbo newspaper, the official said the United States they would immediately shoot down a North Korean missile in flight over the island of Guam (American territory where there are bases of the US Navy and the US Air Force. There is no confirmation that Aquilino said it, and Sister Kim also claimed not to know, but still wanted to launch the his warning: attempting to intercept a North Korean missile would be considered war.
March 7, 2023 (change March 7, 2023 | 11:17 am)
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