The daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was recently seen in public for the first time, is his second child, aged about 10, South Korea’s spy agency told politicians on Tuesday.
On Saturday, North Korea released photos of Mr Kim at the launch of the country’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, named Hwasong-17. He was accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-ju and their “beloved daughter,” state media reported.
The girl, thought to be named Kim Ju-ae, stood hand-in-hand with Mr Kim and later watched the test from a viewing platform.
In a closed-door briefing at a parliament committee, AP reported that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency, told politicians that it assesses the daughter is Mr Kim’s second child and is about 10, Yoo Sang-bum, one of the politicians who attended the meeting, said.
The NIS said it cannot confirm the lawmakers’ comments. It typically neither confirms nor denies the contents of its private briefings provided at parliament. The NIS has a spotty record in confirming developments in North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive nations.
Some analysts said the girl's appearance at a missile test site showed that Mr Kim was emboldened by his advancing nuclear arsenal, the backbone of his family’s rule.
Others speculate that if he continues to take her to major public events, that could suggest that he might consider her an early heir apparent.
A potential successor?
Analysts said it is far too early to tell whether the girl is a successor or simply a symbol used to assure citizens that nuclear weapons would protect children and be “monuments to be passed down to our descendants for generations,” as state media reported.
Chun Su-jin, the South Korean author of a book on North Korean women leaders, said the chance of North Korean elites welcoming Mr Kim's daughter as ruler is very small.
“It is not ready to welcome a leader of the other gender,” she said. "(Kim) is just staging a show that he is a loving father, not just a brutal dictator who shoots missiles.”
Others believe that despite North Korea’s deeply patriarchal society, gender may not disqualify a daughter or other woman from taking power.
Barring a sudden health problem that leads to his incapacitation or death, there is a fair amount of time before Mr Kim, believed to be nearly 40, needs to consider a successor, said Michael Madden, blogger and director of North Korea Leadership Watch.
“That gives ample time for North Korea's political culture to change and create the conditions for a female successor,” Mr Madden said.
Mr Kim has elevated several women around him, including his sister, Yo Jong, and Choe Son-hui, the country’s first woman foreign minister.
Does Kim Jong-un have any other children?
The daughter apparently is Mr Kim’s child who retired NBA star Dennis Rodman saw during his trip to Pyongyang in 2013.
After that Pyongyang visit, Rodman told the British newspaper The Guardian that he and Mr Kim had a “relaxing time by the sea” with the leader’s family and that he held Mr Kim’s baby daughter, named Ju Ae.
It was the first time North Korea officially confirmed her existence. North Korea’s state media did not disclose the age, name and other details of Mr Kim’s daughter last week.
South Korean media have speculated Mr Kim married Ms Ri in 2009 and that they have three children, who were born in 2010, 2013 and 2017, respectively. Some reports said Mr Kim’s first child is a son and the third one is a daughter.
Mr Kim, 38, is a third generation of his family to run North Korea since 1948. He inherited power in late 2011 upon the death of his father Kim Jong-il.
Mr Kim and his father were both first mentioned in state media dispatches after they became adults. Given that, the revealing of the daughter believed to be in her early teens came as a surprise to observers.
Agencies contributed to this story
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
