Who is Kim Jong Un's daughter? North Korean leader reveals her to world for the first time

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un revealed his daughter to the world for the first time on Saturday in striking photos showing the pair hand-in-hand inspecting the launch of the nuclear-armed country's largest ballistic missile the day before.

North Korea test-fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday.

The biggest surprise, however, was the presence of Kim's daughter, whose existence had never been publicly confirmed before.

KCNA did not name the girl, who is seen in photographs in a white puffy coat holding hands with her father as they look at the massive missile.

Kim Jong Un's daughter at public event

"This is the first observed occasion where we have seen Kim Jong Un's daughter at a public event" Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the U.S.-based Stimson Center. "It is highly significant and represents a certain degree of comfort on Kim Jong Un's part that he would bring her out in public in such fashion."

Kim is believed to have as many as three children, two girls and a boy, experts said. Some observers believed one of those children was seen in footage of celebrations for a national holiday in September.

In 2013 retired American basketball star Dennis Rodman said Kim had a "baby" daughter named Ju Ae. After a trip to North Korea that year, Rodman told The Guardian newspaper he had spent time with Kim and his family, and held the baby.