Relations with Beijing will also improve considerably. North Korea will seek normalisation of trade relations and economic assistance from China, while China will attempt to manage conflict escalation on the Korean Peninsula. Both China and Russia are likely to show a more tolerant attitude towards North Korea’s nuclear weapons status.

Ju Ae has been making increasingly prominent appearances in state media in recent years, fueling speculation that she is being prepared as Kim’s successor.

The teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made her first known visit to a sacred family mausoleum where the embalmed bodies of her late grandfather and great-grandfather are on display.

South Korea’s military reports projectile launch hours before Lee Jae Myung was due to head to Beijing

The test also appears to indicate Pyongyang’s objection to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to Beijing.