The New Year, marked in Pyongyang with a show of proportions for the North Korean leader. Kim Jong-un appeared again with his daughter
Kim Jong Un and his family on New Year's Day. Photo credit: KCNA via KNS / AP / Profimedia
The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, marked the New Year by participating, together with his wife and daughter, in a large-scale festive show held in Pyongyang, without sending any message to South Korea or the United States, according to state media, the South Korean agency Yonhap reports, quoted by Agerpres.
Images broadcast by state television show Kim with his daughter, Ju-ae, sitting next to him during the event at Pyongyang's May Day Stadium.
Ju-ae, dressed in a leather coat to match her father's, was seen holding his hand and whispering something to him as they watched the show, and after the New Year countdown ended, she kissed him on the cheek.
Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, was seated next to Ju-ae, but in the pictures she appeared mostly only on the edge of the frame.
KIM JONG-UN, DAUGHTER, ATTEND NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS
Dumalo and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took part in the New Year's celebration in Pyongyang, North Korea, KCNA media reported.
Kasama niya ang anak na si Kim Ju-ae na considered ng ilang analysts na frontrunner ni… pic.twitter.com/s88FlJcgxN
— News5 (@News5PH) January 1, 2026
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Jong-un gave a speech at the event focused on domestic issues, without sending messages to Seoul or Washington.
He urged North Koreans to unite and move toward a “new vision” that will be presented at the ninth congress of the Workers' Party of North Korea, scheduled to take place early this year.
Message to the troops sent to war in Ukraine
Kim also delivered a message in a New Year's letter to North Korean soldiers stationed abroad.
In the message, he told troops sent to support Russia in the war against Ukraine that their participation in the fighting helps strengthen the “invincible alliance” between Pyongyang and Moscow.
North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops and conventional weaponry to support Russia's war effort. It is believed that thousands of them lost their lives in the fighting, writes Yonhap.
“All of you have heroically defended the dignity and honor of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),” Kim said, praising them as the country's “greatest strength, pride and solid pillar.”
Kim said he hopes to reunite with the soldiers as soon as possible, adding that he has no greater desire than to see them all return home safely and urging them to pay special attention to their own security.
“Thanks to your devoted and self-sacrificing struggle, the militant brotherhood, friendship and invincible alliance between our country and Russia are becoming stronger,” he noted.
KCNA reported separately on Kim's meeting with the families of soldiers on overseas missions on the sidelines of a New Year celebration held in Pyongyang the day before.
Kim said that at the beginning of the year, he is “thinking even more about the commanding officers and combatants of foreign operations units”, expressing his wish that their loved ones return home safely after completing their mission, the agency said.
