'Like gods reigning over humans': Many defectors see daughter of North Korea's Kim as heir apparent

FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center, and his daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae, visit a military training base in North Korea, Thursday, March 19, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. 朝鮮通信社/KCNA via KNS via AP hide caption 朝鮮通信社/KCNA via KNS via AP SEOUL, South Korea — Until she fled North Korea three years ago, Kim Yumi felt deeply frustrated whenever state TV showed leader Kim Jong Un with his young daughter. The message, she felt, was clear and worrying: North Korea was laying the groundwork for an eventual hereditary transfer of power, this time to Kim's daughter. Publicly questioning the Kim dynasty's hold on power would mean severe persecution. Already angered by draconian pandemic regulations that ruined her family's fishing business, she defected to South Korea by boat with her family. "My husband and I didn't want our children to live under a fourth-generation dictatorship. As parents, we thought the best thing we could do for our childr...