There could soon be a fight for control in North Korea, as the claim to power could leave a 13-year-old girl in charge of the nation, in turn making her the youngest nuclear commander in all of history.
Kim Jong Un has held power in North Korea for over a decade and a half now, taking charge immediately after his father, Kim Jong Il, passed away.
While he’s only 42-years-old – comparatively a spring chicken when it comes to global leaders – he’s clearly already thinking about the line of succession, especially as there appears to be a rivalry cropping up between two particular family members.
Many presumed that Kim Yo Jong, his younger sister, would take over the reigns if the opportunity arose, yet it appears that another unexpected player is set to be officially announced as the heir in the near future.
It is expected that Kim Jong Un’s 13-year-old daughter, Ju-ae, is to be named as the heir to power (KNCA via KNS/AFP via Getty Images)
As reported by the BBC, Kim Ju-ae – the current leader’s 13-year-old daughter and his only child – is expected to be named as the heiress to North Korean leadership, being made second in command in the process.
The decision was revealed by South Korea’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), noting that they took a “range of circumstances” into account before making this decision, including her increasingly prominent appearances at various official events.
Later this month is the North Korean party congress, an event that is held every five years, and her attendance at this significant meeting will be considered the unofficial confirmation of her ascendance to power.
“As Kim Ju Ae has shown her presence at various events, including the founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected of her voicing her opinion on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being designated as successor,” explains lawmaker Lee Seong-kwen.
Kim Ju-ae would immediately become the world’s youngest nuclear commander upon her succession (KNCA via KNS/AFP via Getty Images)
If power were to pass to her, even within the next decade and beyond, she would immediately become history’s youngest nuclear commander by quite a considerable margin — which could be a rather frightening prospect for many of the nation’s rivals.
The United States is seemingly edging already closer to nuclear war amid conflicts with Russia and China, yet a new player in the field could provide her own motivations for attack, potentially bringing the ‘doomsday plane’ and top secret evacuation bunkers into play in the worst case scenario.Featured Image Credit: KNCA via KNS/AFP via Getty Images
Concerning new satellite images expose top-secret North Korean plant that confirms Kim Jong Un’s bone-chilling plan
Many fear that nuclear war is coming
It’s all seemingly ramping up in North Korea as new satellite imagery exposes a concerning plant, seemingly confirming a bone-chilling plan from the nation’s leader Kim Jong Un.
The threat of nuclear war appears to be ever growing with many of the world’s leading political powers making concerning moves involving weapon development that haven’t been seen since the Cold War.
While the primary concern appears to be tussles between long-term enemies in the United States and Russia, as Putin has revealed the successful tests for several nuclear weapons despite severe warnings from President Trump, plenty of smoke also appears to be emerging from North Korea.
As reported by the Independent, new satellite imagery of North Korea now appears to suggest that the nation’s government is building a new uranium enrichment plant at one of its several nuclear weapons sites.
You don’t have to be an expert to feel that this isn’t exactly good news for the future of the world, but it becomes even more frightening when discovering a plan from this year where Kim Jong Un revealed his desire to “exponentially” increase the nation’s nuclear weapon stocks.
New uranium enrichment plans in North Korea appear to fulfil Kim Jong Un’s wish to boost the nation’s nuclear arsenal (Contributor/Getty Images)
The images themselves were captured over the last two months by Washington-based monitoring group 38 North, illustrating that they represent a “continuation of modernization and expansion efforts throughout” the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center.
This particular plant is key to the nation’s ability to produce plutonium and uranium – two of the key components for the construction of nuclear bombs – and therefore increased production would only imply that there’s seemingly a fear that they’ll need more than they currently have in the near future.
“Work to built up land surronding a support building to the south of the suspected uranium enrichment site appears to be underway,” analysis from experts at 38 North revealed, although “the purpose of this building is unknown.”
The plant has seen major expansion this year, with fears that it’s being used to enrich uranium (Pleiades NEO/Airbus DS 2025, annotations by 38 North)
There have been six possible heat exchangers appear this year on the building’s southeast side, which are typically used to cool the plant’s centrifuges and keep temperatures stable, which is an essential part of the production of uranium.
Experts have also added that “these improvements all serve to help fulfil Kim’s call for exponential growth of its nuclear weapons arsenals,” of which the Supreme Leader noted needed to be “overfilled” in what will turn out to be a “crucial year” for the nation.
You might want to start researching your nearest nuclear shelter and what would happen if a nuclear bomb were to strike America, as pessimists would argue that it’s only a matter of time until these weapons are used, as they’re not being made in excess to just sit around after all.Featured Image Credit: VCG / Contributor via Getty
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Published 13:34 2 Jun 2025 GMT+1
Smartphone smuggled out of North Korea reveals horrifying reality of living under Kim Jong Un’s rule
An insight into how the country controls its citizens in the modern day.
A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea has pulled back the curtain on the terrifying level of control the regime enforces over its citizens, and the findings are shocking.
At first glance, the device could be mistaken for any other smartphone. But as BBC News discovered during a recent investigation, the tech is anything but ordinary.
It’s custom-built to ‘spy’ on its user, not protect them.
Every five minutes, the phone takes a screenshot and silently stores it in a hidden folder. This folder is completely inaccessible to the phone’s user but fully open to North Korean authorities.
Essentially, the government is watching literally everything you’re doing on your phone, all the time.
BBC/TikTok
It doesn’t stop at surveillance either. The device also censors language in real-time, rewriting your words to fit the regime’s ideology.
When journalist Jean Mackenzie typed the word “oppa”, a common South Korean slang term for “boyfriend”, the phone automatically corrected it to “comrade”.
Apparently, North Korea will only allow the word if you’re talking about your actual brother.
Even more chilling, typing “South Korea” doesn’t go down well with the system either.
Instead, the phone forcefully changes it to “puppet state”. This is a phrase the regime uses to delegitimise its southern neighbour.
For North Koreans, censorship isn’t just heavy-handed — it’s part of daily life. Expert on North Korean tech, Martyn Williams, told the BBC: “Smartphones are now part and parcel of the way North Korea tries to indoctrinate people.”
Williams added: “The reason for this control is that so much of the mythology around the Kim family is made up. A lot of what they tell people is lies.”
People who’ve managed to escape the regime paint an equally grim picture. Kang Gyuri, who fled North Korea in 2023, told the BBC: “I felt so suffocated, and I suddenly had an urge to leave.”
