'Like gods reigning over humans': Many defectors see daughter of North Korea's Kim as heir apparent
North Korean defectors and analysts suggest that Kim Jong Un is positioning his daughter as his successor to maintain the Kim dynasty's power. This potential fourth-generation transition is being observed closely as the country remains an isolated, nuclear-armed authoritarian state.
Why it matters
The stability and leadership succession of North Korea have major implications for global security and regional stability in East Asia.
SEOUL, South Korea — Until she fled North Korea three years ago, Kim Yumi felt deeply frustrated whenever state TV showed leader Kim Jong Un with his young daughter. The message, she felt, was clear and worrying: North Korea was laying the groundwork for an eventual hereditary transfer of power, this time to Kim's daughter.
Publicly questioning the Kim dynasty's hold on power would mean severe persecution. Already angered by draconian pandemic regulations that ruined her family's fishing business, she defected to South Korea by boat with her family.
"My husband and I didn't want our children to live under a fourth-generation dictatorship. As parents, we thought the best thing we could do for our children was to give them freedom," said Kim Yumi, 32, who now lives in Seoul.
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