Why ‘twin look’ of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, daughter sparks succession talk

During North Korea’s latest military parade, images of its leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter wearing near-identical leather coats have prompted Pyongyang observers to speculate whether the stage is set for the next chapter in the ruling family’s history.For them, the “twin look” is another instance of carefully directed political theatre to burnish the standing of the Kims in the reclusive country for the long term.At the close of the ruling Workers’ Party’s ninth congress on Wednesday night, Kim Jong-un arrived at Kim Il-sung Square in a limousine with his daughter, Ju-ae, and stepped out beside her in full view of a large assembly of troops.The visual symmetry suggests a deliberate effort to merge the younger Kim’s image with the authority of the supreme commander, reinforcing the message that the family is a guarantor of North Korea’s future, with nuclear weapons forming the spearhead of its deterrence against external adversaries, according to analysts.After a week largely out of public view during the party gathering, Ju-ae re-emerged at the parade, occupying a central position beside her parents on the viewing stand.Pyongyang has portrayed North Korea for decades as a nation whose fate is intertwined with that of the Kims, with the leader as the father, the party as the mother and the people as their children.