Seoul: North Korea appears to be speeding up efforts to cast North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's daughter Ju-ae as his successor, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Monday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the assessment during a closed-door briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee, according to Reps. Park Sun-won of the Democratic Party and Lee Seong-kweun of the People Power Party.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the NIS assessed that Ju-ae's recent state media appearances in defense-related reports appear to be part of efforts to "dilute" skepticism surrounding a female successor and "accelerate" the succession narrative. Last month, the North's state media reported that Kim oversaw a drill featuring new battle tanks, with his daughter seen driving one.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, alongside his daughter Ju-ae, was seen riding on a battle tank as he oversaw a coordinated offensive tactical drill of infantrymen's and tankmen's subunits at the Pyongyang Training Base No. 60 under the Capital City Defense Corps of the Korean People's Army on March 19, 2026, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency the following day.