North Korea on Saturday released a photo of leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter at a rifle range, the latest propaganda image to promote the leader as a possible successor.
Kim Jong Un and his daughter, along with Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong and other officials, opened fire after the North Korean leader gifted military leaders rifles to honor their service to the reclusive nation’s ruling party, state media KCNA said.
One of the images, which CNN found may have been manipulated by AI, showed a girl in her early teens, identified as Kim Joo-ae, firing a sniper rifle.
A total of 27 photos were released by North Korea.
CNN examined the four photos for signs of manipulation. The photo of Kim Joo-ae firing a rifle was the only one that showed the possibility of using AI.
KCNA reported that Kim specially prepared gifts of “new generation sniper rifles” for key leaders, calling them “truly wonderful weapons.”
The shooting range incident took place after the conclusion of the Workers’ Party of Korea Congress, a near-rubber-stamp political gathering of the country’s elite, which reaffirmed Kim’s leadership with a unanimous vote.
In the National Assembly, Kim Yo Jong was promoted to party director after serving as a deputy for many years, solidifying her position in the party’s inner circle. Several party and military leadership positions were reorganized and young supporters promoted.
But much of the attention was focused on Kim’s daughter.
Kim Joo-ae stood with her father in the stands, watching about 14,000 troops trot through Kim Il Sung Square, named after her great-grandfather, in the capital of Pyongyang.
She has been by her father’s side during past missile tests and other ruling party events, fueling speculation that she could be the fourth successor to the Kim dynasty, which has ruled North Korea since before the start of the 1950 Korean War.
In February, South Korea’s intelligence agency said it believed the dictator had “entered the stage of naming her as his successor.”
There was no official confirmation from North Korea about the daughter’s role, but images of her allegedly firing a sniper rifle on Friday drew more attention to her.
“By emphasizing that Kim Jue knows how to shoot a rifle, North Korea is hinting that she is undergoing training to succeed her,” Yang Moo-jin, a renowned professor at the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul, told Chosun Ilbo.
Other images showed Kim Joo-ae, wearing a leather jacket, watching her father fire through binoculars and helping hand out rifles to others at the event.
