REVEALED: The disturbing reason Kim Jong-un and his daughter are so touchy-feely in public
The dictator and his daughter are often seen holding hands, caressing each other’s faces, or kissing each other’s cheeks – but the reason why is horrifying.
THE disturbing reason why Kim Jong-un and his daughter are so affectionate in public has been revealed – and it’s not what you think.
The dictator’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, was introduced to the world in November 2022, and since then the duo have made regular public appearances together.
Often they hold hands, caress each other’s faces, or kiss each other’s cheeks – and it may look like a spontaneous show of affection, but really it’s part of a “psychological game”.
That’s the verdict of North Korea expert Sung-Yoon Lee, who called it a “choreographed” show, meant to disguise the regime’s dangerous nature, while paving the way for succession.
Dr Lee said: “The father and the daughter exhibiting affection, love for each other, often touching the other's face, the girl cupping the father's face and vice versa – all this is choreographed.
“North Korea is arguably the most highly-choreographed theatre state in the world – nothing just happens on a whim spontaneously.
“So when you choreograph these scenes – the father looking like a loving dad and the cute-looking daughter showing affection for her father – it's a wholesome family ensemble that favours North Korea.”
He continued: “North Korea is playing a psychological game vis-à-vis the US and its allies by frequently showing the little girl in public.
“How? It creates the impression in Washington that de-nuclearising North Korea is really hard, virtually impossible.
“It says: look, Kim Jong-un obviously is a cruel dictator, but he obviously loves his daughter, maybe he's even a family man – he cares for his family, obviously.
“He wouldn't start a nuclear war, would he? He would not be crazy enough to start a nuclear war.
“So maybe, just maybe, we'll just have to resign ourselves to living with a nuclear North Korea.”
Dr Lee, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, added: “Kim Jong-un is also sending a message to either Mr Biden or Mr Trump, whoever is the leader next year.
“He’s saying ‘my nukes are here to stay. We are a dynasty, whereas you gentlemen, you'll be forgotten five years from now.
“‘My power, my nukes, will be handed down to my next generation, to whomever I anoint as the next leader, so we have all the time in the world’.
“That kind of implicit message creates apprehension, tension, anxiety in Washington and other capitals around the world.”
Dr Lee credited this masterstroke to the dictator’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, who he called the “propaganda queen” of North Korea.
He’s written the first biography of her, which argues she is the most powerful woman in the despotic state.
He said: “She has been the de-facto head of North Korea's very powerful Propaganda and Agitation Department since 2012, officially since 2014.
“She is the censor-in-chief. She is the propaganda queen of North Korea.
“It is quite clear is that Kim Jong-un’s frequent tendency to show up with his cute-looking daughter is very much choreographed and favours mostly the North Korean regime.
“It’s very clever – and I think this is the product of Kim Yo-Jong, not Kim Jong-un.”
It’s been rumoured that Kim Jong-un has a secret son who’s been kept out of the public eye, with one former South Korean spy saying the lad was too “pale and thin” for North Korean tastes.
Whatever the case, Dr Lee believes that it’s more advantageous for the tyrant to showcase his daughter.
Speaking to the Pen News YouTube channel, he said: “Most of us would take a more negative view of the father going to public events with his 10 or 12-year-old boy.
“We would be prone to saying: ‘oh, look at that crazy regime; they’re preparing for a third father-to-son succession, they’ll never change’.
“Whereas today, looking at the father-daughter ensemble, we’re more prone to thinking in political-drama soap-opera terms.
“So we’re asking: will we ever see the rise of a female supreme leader in North Korea? Does he have a son? What’s going on? And so on.”
Dr Lee’s book, The Sister: The extraordinary story of Kim Yo Jong, the most powerful woman in North Korea, is available now in hardback, with a paperback edition launching on July 11.