Kim Jong-un's 3 Children: Everything to Know

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North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un reportedly has three children, but it wasn't until a rare 2022 appearance that the existence of any of them was confirmed.

Supposedly married to former singer Ri Sol-ju since 2009, the North Korean leader is thought to have three children born in 2010, 2013 and 2017, according to NPR.

In November 2022, Kim revealed his daughter, reportedly his middle child Ju-ae, for the first time, walking hand-in-hand with her at the missile site for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released photos of the leader, who it said watched the launch with his "beloved daughter" and wife.

Ju-ae made her second public appearance less than two weeks later, holding hands with her father while visiting North Korean soldiers at an undisclosed location.

Kim, the son of the former leader, Kim Jong-il, is the third leader of North Korea and has been in power since 2011. It is thought that since he has not publicly anointed an heir apparent, his daughter's appearance at the missile launch — and several other public outings throughout February 2023 — might signal her as Kim's successor.

"It's much too soon to infer anything about succession within the Kim regime," Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told NPR. "However, publicly including his wife and daughter in what Kim claims as a historically successful missile test associates the family business of ruling North Korea with the nation's missile programs."

Details of Kim's life and family are tightly controlled, so little is known about any of his kids. Here is what we do know about the three children.

Kim Ju-ae

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Ju-ae was reportedly born around 2013, and she is believed to be about 10 years old, according to South Korea's spy agency.

In 2013, former NBA star Dennis Rodman made a trip to North Korea, telling The Guardian that he spent time on vacation with Kim and his family, where he met Kim's daughter during their "relaxing time by the sea."

"I held their baby Ju-ae and spoke with [Kim's wife] as well. He's a good dad and has a beautiful family," Rodman said at the time.

Despite making her first public appearance at the November 2022 missile launch, Ju-ae's age was not known (nor was her name at the time). For that occasion, she wore a white coat and red shoes and had her hair pulled back.

"As the Rodong Sinmnum newspaper publicized the photo of the daughter, who took after Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol Ju so much ... she has no choice but to live special lives," analyst Cheong Seong-Chang of the Sejong Institute in South Korea told NPR. " ... Kim Jong-un may have his daughter, who resembles him the most in his mind, as his successor."

Ju-ae made her second public appearance less than 10 days after her first. North Korea state media released photos showing Kim and his daughter holding hands as they walked at an undisclosed location with North Korean soldiers. In one picture, Ju-ae can be seen in a long fur-trimmed black coat while subtly waving, while in others she gave a handshake to a soldier.

Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the AP that it "is certainly striking" to see Ju-ae with her father while he was being celebrated for the launch, as it "would support the idea that this is the start of her being positioned as a potential successor." She also noted that North Korea's state media was "underscoring her father's love for her" and that both public appearances involved nuclear weapons, which didn't seem "coincidental."

With the second appearance, AP also noted that the Korean Central News Agency's description of Kim's daughter evolved from "beloved" on Nov. 19 to the more honorific "most beloved" or "precious" child.

Kim's Other Two Children

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Almost nothing is known about Kim's other two children. The first is said to be a son born in 2010 and the third was born in February 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal via reports from South Korean press and intelligence officials. According to the AP, some reports say the third child is a daughter.

What is known is that under North Korea's system, all three children "would have the status of a prince or princess, like in a dynasty," Cheong told the AP.

Though he rarely speaks publicly about his family, during former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in April 2018, Kim reportedly said he didn't want his children to bare the burden of nuclear weapons.

"'I'm a father and husband … and I don't want my children to carry the nuclear weapon on their back their whole life,'" former CIA official Andrew Kim quoted Kim telling Pompeo, as reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency and the Wall Street Journal.

Kim's private family life is in line with how he was raised. He was 26 when he was first mentioned in state media in 2010, taking many top posts ahead of inheriting power the next year after his father, Kim Jong-il, died. Kim Jong-il was also not mentioned in state media until he was an adult.

North Korea is infamously closed off from other countries, and information about its society and government, particularly about Kim himself, is difficult to verify.