North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and teen daughter fire new pistols at shooting range, images show

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter fired pistols during an inspection of a light munitions factory, state media photos showed Thursday, as he pushes to modernize conventional forces after years of focus on nuclear weapons.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited a factory producing pistols and other light arms a day earlier and reviewed a new pistol that recently entered production.

After testing the weapon at a shooting range, Kim rated it “excellent,” the agency said. The agency did not mention the presence of Kim’s daughter in its text report but its photos showed her firing a pistol along with senior military officials.

Kim said the factory was crucial for supplying pistols and other light arms to the military and security forces, and urged expanded capacity and more modern production lines, KCNA said.

Since first appearing in public at a long-range missile test in November 2022, Kim’s daughter — believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and about 13 — has accompanied her father to a growing number of events, including military displays, factory openings and a September trip to Beijing, where Kim Jong Un held his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years.

Her increasingly prominent public appearances have prompted South Korean intelligence officials and experts to assess that Kim Jong Un is likely grooming her as a future leader to extend the family dynasty into a fourth generation.

They may also indicate that “the regime is trying to cultivate the image of a strong and formidable woman,” Lim Eul-chul, an expert on North Korea and faculty member at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, told AFP, adding: “The pistol-shooting scene clearly serves to signal that she is cultivating the attributes of a military leader.”

State media last month showed Kim’s daughter testing a sniper rifle as her father presented the weapons to senior officials following a ruling party congress where he issued his major political and military goals for the next five years.

The visit to the pistol factory followed an inspection Tuesday in which Kim and his daughter watched the test launch of what state media described as nuclear-capable cruise missiles from a naval destroyer as Kim called for speeding up the nuclear armament of his navy.

North Korea released these latest images roughly a week after its state media shared a series of unusually candid photos of Kimincluding some that showed him appearing to spend the afternoon petting puppies with his daughter, sister Yo Jung, and wife Ri Sul Ju. Images of the outing were taken from a video, which also surfaced online. A collection of them published by state media suggested that the video was filmed in a pet shop on or around Feb. 17.

Kim and his daughter, who wore coordinating black attire in the photos and video, were also seen exploring a music shop filled with instruments in that collection of images. His demeanor in them marked a departure from Kim’s usual depictions in state propaganda as a stern commander.