‘Physically weak’ but ‘strong willed’: Kim Jong Un delivers his first Women's Day speech — Is he promoting his daughter Ju Ae?
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised the “physically weak but strong-willed” women of his country during an International Women’s Day speech in Pyongyang. His daughter Kim Ju Ae attended the event, fuelling speculation she is being positioned as his successor
‘Physically weak’ but ‘strong willed’: Kim Jong Un delivers Women's Day speech
On the occasion of International Women's Day, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un addressed an event in Pyongyang and said that the "physically weak" but "strong-willed" women of his country are “solid buttress of the revolution." "Our contemporary women... have become a solid buttress of the revolution. Though physically weak, they are obviously strong-willed, their plain faces assuming courage and the wrinkles on them denoting their strenuous exertion," Kim said, according to an English dispatch from the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). International Women’s Day is an official holiday in North Korea.
Kim attempting to promote his daughter?
Kim's wife Ri Sol Ju and daughter Ju Ae attended the event. This comes after various reports suggested that Kim's daughter Ju Ae will his successor. She was seen seated next to her father and holding his hand. KCNA did not name Ju Ae in its report, referring to her instead as Kim's "beloved daughter". South Korea's spy agency has said Pyongyang appears to have begun the process of designating Ju Ae as Kim's successor. Lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the briefing of the spy agency, told the Associated Press earlier this February that the agency’s language had shifted noticeably. While the NIS previously described Kim’s daughter as being in “successor training," it now characterises her as being at the “successor-designate stage", a significant change in assessment. If this happens, the 13-year-old Kim Ju Ae will be the fourth-generation ruler from the Kim family in North Korea.
Women participation in event
Party officials and foreign diplomatic dignitaries also attended the event, which included performances following Kim's speech, KCNA added. Kim's speech was received with "fervent cheers" from an audience "overwhelmed with great excitement", the news agency said. Longtime TV anchor Ri Chun Hi, Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, and exemplary female officials and workers also joined the event.
Increased appearances of Kim's daughter
Ju Ae's latest official appearance follows her visit to a shooting range late last month. State media published a photo of her at the time peering through a rifle scope with her finger on the trigger, smoke rising from the barrel. The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their "Paektu bloodline" dominates daily life in the isolated country, reported AFP. Kim in his speech also urged women “to fulfill the sacred mission and duty” in “achieving the prosperity and development of our country, and promoting the harmony and unity of our society.”
What Kim's speech signifies?
According to Seoul’s Unification Ministry, Kim’s remarks marked the first time he publicly delivered a speech for International Women’s Day and only the second time he has attended a commemorative performance for the occasion. A ministry official said Kim’s presence appeared to reflect “an effort to highlight the role of women as North Korea pursues the comprehensive development of socialism following the 9th Party Congress, while also presenting the image of a ‘socialist big family.’”
)
)
)
)
)