Ju Ae has been making increasingly prominent appearances in state media over the past three years, fuelling speculation by analysts and South Korea’s intelligence agency that she may be in line to be the country’s fourth-generation leader.

Kim was also accompanied by his wife, Lee Sol Ju, and senior officials on the visit on Jan 1, with Ju Ae between her parents in the main hall of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, state news agency KCNA photographs showed.

Kim Ju Ae, who is believed to have been born in the early 2010s, attended this year’s New Year celebrations, according to state media on Thursday. In September, she travelled to Beijing with her father on her first public overseas outing.

Kim visits Kumsusan to honour his grandfather and state founder, Kim Il Sung, and father Kim Jong Il on key dates and anniversaries in a gesture affirming the dynastic heritage of the nuclear-armed country.

North Korea has never confirmed Ju Ae’s age.