North Korea’s Kim presents rifles to officials and his daughter takes aim after party congress

Seoul, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gifted top government and military officials with new sniper rifles after a weeklong ruling party congress celebrating his leadership, state media highlighted a picture of his teenage daughter taking aim at a shooting range.

Kim presented the rifles to senior party and military officials on Friday, calling it a sign of his “complete faith” and gratitude for their commitment in the five years since the last Workers’ Party Congress in 2021, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday.

The report confirmed that Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, who served as his fiercest spokeswoman toward Washington and Seoul in recent years, now serves as director of general affairs for the party’s Central Committee after campaigning in Congress. His new title implies a broader role overseeing the party’s internal operations and administrative affairs.

State media photos showed Kim Yo Jong and other top officials aiming rifles given to them by Kim Jong Un at a shooting range. Kim’s young daughter, wearing the same brown leather coat as her father, manned the weapon as smoke rose from the barrel.

Since her first public appearance at a long-range missile test in November 2022, the girl – named Kim Ju A and aged about 13 – has accompanied her father to numerous events, including military demonstrations, factory openings and a trip to Beijing in September, where Kim Jong Un held his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years.

The party congress, which ended on Wednesday in Pyongyang after seven days, has been North Korea’s most significant political event since 2016 and has been a carefully choreographed show glorifying Kim’s leadership in front of thousands of delegates.

At meetings this year, Kim doubled down on his plans to accelerate North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, which is already equipped with a variety of weapons systems that threaten the United States and US allies in Asia, and reaffirmed his hardline view of rival South Korea.

But he opened the door to dialogue with the US, reiterating Pyongyang’s earlier position that Washington drop demands for the North’s denuclearization as a precondition for resuming long-term dialogue.

South Korean officials and experts closely watched the congress as Kim prepared to extend the family’s dynastic rule into a fourth generation by cementing his daughter as the heir apparent. Earlier this month, South Korea’s spy agency said it had determined it was close to appointing Kim Jong Un as his successor.

He did not appear at party meetings in the Congress but shared center stage with his father at a military parade on Wednesday night. Despite speculation that he may seek a formal party post in the Congress, state media reports have not indicated any such move and party rules require members to be at least 18.

If Kim Jong Un tries to use Congress to solidify his daughter as successor, some experts say the signals, such as self-congratulatory statements about North Korea’s survival and crediting that tolerance to a successful succession to the socialist cause, are subtle.

In a report assessing the congress on Thursday, North Korea’s state media said the meetings “laid a solid foundation for the sacred effort to ensure and realize the glorious succession and development of our party.”