Is North Korea ready for a female leader?

South Korea’s spy agency said last month that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, known as Ju-ae, appears to have entered the stage of being groomed as a successor — a striking assessment in a country long defined by rigid patriarchy and deeply entrenched gender inequality. The National Intelligence Service’s latest evaluation marked a shift from its earlier description of Ju-ae as the “most likely successor,” suggesting that Pyongyang may now be actively moving toward formalizing her st