Kim Jong Un's daughter and likely heir Kim Ju Ae joins him at China parade

Kim Jong Un was joined by his daughter Kim Ju Ae at the China military parade in Beijing, as she emerges as the likely successor in North Korea.

When Kim Jong Un stepped off his armored train and into the global spotlight in Beijing on Tuesday, he was flanked by a surprise guest.

The teenage girl pictured by the North Korean leader’s side was his young daughter making her international debut to attend the military parade in China. Experts and close observers of the reclusive, nuclear-armed state see Kim Ju Ae’s appearance as the clearest signal yet that she may be in line to succeed her father at the head of the family’s dynastic rule.

“This is the final stage of the gateway for being designated as successor,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told NBC News.

She “has now completed being exposed internally and externally,” Yang said, pointing to her frequent domestic appearances by her father’s side over the past year, attending events ranging from a battleship launch to a water park opening.

Neither her age nor her name have been confirmed by Pyongyang but Kim Ju Ae, who was first identified by former basketball star Dennis Rodman, is estimated to be around 12 or 13 years old. She was pictured accompanying her father wearing a dark navy belted suit jacket with a matching ribbon in her hair, in photos released by state news agency KCNA.