Kim's daughter called 'most beloved' child in 2nd appearance

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy North Korea's leader has taken his daughter to a meeting with missile scientists in her second public appearance, in which state media called her Kim Jong Un's “most beloved” child, deepening outside debate over whether she is being primed as his successor. The daughter, believed to Kim’s second child named Ju Ae and about 9 or 10 years old, was first unveiled to the outside world last weekend in state media photos showing her observing the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch the previous day with her parents and other older officials. “I think it is too early to draw any conclusions.” She said that Kim Jong Un may think his daughter’s unveiling is an effective distraction while conditioning Washington, Seoul and others to living with the North Korean nuclear threat as “the spectacle of Ju Ae appears to eclipse the intensifying gravity of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat." In remarks at the group photo session, Kim Jong Un called the recently tested Hwasong-17 “a great entity of strategic strength” and ordered officials to further build the country’s military capability to a “more absolute and irreversible one.” The North’s Hwasong-17 launch was part of a barrage of missile tests that it says were meant to issue a warning over U.S.-South Korean military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.