Kim Jong Un was filmed testing out the firmness of mattresses and eating BBQ with his daughter as part of an awkward propaganda campaign promoting tourism to North Korea.
The images were released by the country’s tightly controlled state media to announce that the North Korean leader had inaugurated a lavish mountain resort in Samjiyon billed as “attractive” to tourists. He was seen accompanied by his daughter, thought to be 13-year-old Kim Ju Ae.
The pair inspected the bedrooms of the Milyong hotel on Saturday, one of five in the new resort region, in images released by the state news agency KCNA.
Kim Ju Ae has appeared alongside her father in several high-profile outings this year, intensifying suspicions that she is the designated successor to Kim, who took power in the isolationist country following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in 2012.
North Korea’s economy is on the brink across almost every metric, sitting 118th out of 127 places in the World Hunger Index in 2025.
Tourism offers a clear opportunity for the country to bring in cash, as visitors bring hard currency, which it desperately needs. North Korea has been blighted by constricting economic sanctions due to its continued nuclear weapons program, and wealthy visitors from overseas represent one of the few ways it can circumvent them legally.
The regime was typically self-congratulatory in the article showing off the new resort, praising its “unique” location and “special architectural beauty.”
The region is one of North Korea’s key areas designated to attract tourists, who are expected to be mainly from nations the regime regards as friendly, such as China and Russia.
The official state communication celebrated “the painstaking efforts made by Kim Jong Un to bring about a great transformation in the Paektu area, where beautiful scenes, indescribable with the mysterious sceneries of nature only, are being witnessed.”
The daddy-daughter duo’s trip around the new resort included visits to the hotel rooms, where they inspected facilities and admired the art.
“Going round bedrooms of hotels, cosy leisure spaces and commercial and public catering facilities, [Kim] appreciated that all elements are at a high level in terms of practicality, diversity and formative art to preserve their own attractiveness,” the state news service said.
Kim Ju Ae’s appearance is part of a nascent succession plotline that’s slowly gathering momentum, with Kim’s children—of which there are thought to be between two and three—historically kept out of the public eye, until now.
Now, the 13-year-old’s more frequent outings are being interpreted by observers as a sign she is being prepared to take over the dynasty.
