North Korea’s despotic leader Kim Jong Un has chosen his teenage daughter as his successor, South Korea’s intelligence service told lawmakers on Thursday.

Kim Ju Ae, believed to be 13, has increasingly appeared beside her father at major public events, including a high-profile trip to Beijing in September, marking her first known journey abroad.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it evaluated a “range of circumstances,” including her rising visibility at official functions, in concluding she is now considered the heir.

The spy agency added it would closely watch whether she appears at the Workers’ Party Congress later this month, the regime’s most important political gathering, held once every five years.

At the upcoming congress, Pyongyang is expected to outline key priorities for the next five years, including foreign policy strategy, military planning, and nuclear development.

Lawmaker Lee Seong-kwen said Thursday that Ju Ae, previously described by the NIS as being “trained” as an eventual successor, has now reached the level of “successor designation.”

“As Kim Ju Ae has shown her presence at various events, including the founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected of her voicing her opinion on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being designated as successor,” Lee said.

Ju Ae is the only child of Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, who has been publicly acknowledged. The NIS believes Kim may have an older son, but he has never been recognized or shown by state media.

News of her existence first surfaced from an unlikely source: American basketball star Dennis Rodman, who told The Guardian in 2013 that he “held baby Ju Ae” during a visit to North Korea.

Her first televised appearance came in 2022, when state media broadcast images of her inspecting a new intercontinental ballistic missile.

Since then, Ju Ae has frequently appeared in state media, often portrayed in ways that are intended to soften her father’s international image. She joined him on his Beijing trip for China’s largest-ever military parade, stepping off his armored train at Beijing Railway Station.

She is often shown wearing long hair—unusual for girls her age in North Korea—and dressed in designer outfits inaccessible to most citizens.

Power in North Korea has passed through three generations of the Kim dynasty.

Although Seoul’s intelligence service now considers her the designated successor, several questions remain.

In particular, analysts note the unusual move of selecting a daughter over an older son in a society as traditional as North Korea.

Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, holds a senior position within the Workers’ Party and is widely believed to wield significant authority alongside her brother.

Another mystery concerns why Kim Jong Un, who is relatively young and appears healthy, is formalizing succession so early by elevating a 13-year-old.

It remains uncertain how Ju Ae’s future leadership might reshape the country.

When Kim Jong Un succeeded his father, many North Koreans hoped the Western-educated leader would open the nation to the world. Those hopes were never realized.