Getty Kim Jong-un and wife Ri Sol-ju.
Kim Ju-ae, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, was born to Kim Jong-un’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, on February 19, 2013. Kim and Ri’s daughter has never been seen in public due to Kim’s notoriously private lifestyle regarding his family. Ju-ae is 5-years-old.
Kim and Ri have three children together, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). However, only one of their children has been publicly named; former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited Pyongyang in 2013, said he held Kim’s daughter Ju-ae, USA Today reports.
Rodman has become good friends with Kim Jong-un over the years. In fact, Rodman frequently flies to North Korea to hang out with his good friend Kim. After one of his earlier trips, Rodman spilled the beans about Kim Jong-un’s daughter, telling the world the baby’s name.
“The Marshal Kim and I had a relaxing time by the sea with his family. We shared many meals and drinks where we discussed our plans to play a historic friendship basketball game between North Korea and the US as well as ways to develop their basketball team. I held their baby Ju-ae and spoke with Ms Ri as well. He’s a good dad and has a beautiful family. Kim told me, ‘I’ll see you in December,’” Rodman told The Guardian back in 2013.
Kim has two other children, but because Kim and Ri have never publicly admitted to having any children at all, it is unknown if either of the other two children are boys, and their names have never been revealed. Because Ju-ae is a girl, she is not the heir to her father’s throne, as women are not permitted to rule the country.
However, there have been rumors that one of Kim’s children is a boy. Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seoul claims that shortly after North Korea confirmed that Ri Sol Ju was, in fact, Kim’s wife and North Korea’s first lady in 2012. Cheong told The Korea Times that the two had been married in 2009 and that she’d given birth to a son in 2010.
The rumor is largely disputed due to the likeliness that Kim would have announced the birth of his heir. However, with Kim’s intense privacy surrounding his family, others argue that he may not have announced the birth of a son either way.