Kim Jong Un’s 14-year-old daughter set to be unveiled as his heir this month

North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un’s daughter is set to be unveiled as his heir at a landmark party congress this month, according to South Korean intelligence.

Lawmakers in Seoul said the North Korean leader has effectively designated his daughter, Ju Ae, as his successor following a briefing from the country’s National Intelligence Service. 

The spy agency said she has now been clearly ‘designated as a successor’, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after a closed parliamentary session.

The assessment by Seoul’s intelligence agency was made ‘taking into account a range of circumstances, including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events’, Lee said.

Analysts say Ju Ae’s designation could pave the way for her to take on a more formal party role, potentially even First Secretary of the Central Committee, the second most powerful position in the ruling Workers’ Party, at the upcoming congress.

Ju Ae’s exact age has never been publicly confirmed by Pyongyang. While widely reported to be 14, South Korean officials believe she is between 12 and 14.

She has long been viewed as the likely heir, following a series of increasingly high-profile appearances alongside her father.

South Korea’s spy agency said last year Ju Ae appeared to be the next in line after she accompanied Kim on a high-profile visit to Beijing.

State media showed her in January paying respects with Kim at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of state founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il lie in state.

Pyongyang is due to hold a landmark party congress at the end of February – its biggest political event – where it is expected to lay out its foreign policy, war planning and nuclear ambitions for the next five years.