He has nuclear weapons, a massive army and seemingly the adoration of his people. And much like his father and grandfather before him, Kim Jong-un likes to show the world his country is a force to be reckoned with.
But in a fresh change of tack, the youngest Kim is happy for the women closest to him to help deliver that message.
The highest profile of these is the current North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, who has represented her brother on the world stage and is seen by his side at key events.
She is regarded as a likely successor and has shown she can play tough.
But she's not the only woman in the spotlight.
Mr Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, also accompanies her husband to significant events.
This is in stark opposition to his own father, Kim Jong-il, who kept his wives and mistresses out of public view.
But is putting women in the spotlight an act of desperation for a leader with no adult male heir ready to take over in the short term?
Or is it part of a wider strategic plan to elevate women to the highest echelons of the North Korean dictatorship?
The rise of Kim's women
When unconfirmed rumours emerged in April that Mr Kim was gravely ill, speculation was rife over who would succeed him given his own children were too young to rule.
As a blood relative, Ms Kim appeared an obvious choice.
But questions were raised about whether the North Korean elite accepted her, or if she would need to prove and promote herself first.
North Korea's leader saw value in drawing attention to a female Kim, according to former chair of the Korean Studies Association of Australasia, Bronwen Dalton.
She said North Korean women were slowly moving from being the "breeders of the workers" to holding positions of power.
"Kim sees value in creating a first lady figure," Professor Dalton, the Head of the Department of Management at the University of Technology Sydney, said.
"His most trusted sibling is also female and she has become his right-hand woman.
"It is a new development. Kim Yo-jong's also the first Kim where being female doesn't automatically dismiss them from holding a position of power."
But Professor Dalton said putting a high-profile Kim woman in the spotlight didn't necessarily mean she would become the country's next leader.
"The rise of a small handful of women is not enough for a change in policy [in North Korea] — it's hard line," she said, pointing out North Korea remained a deeply patriarchal society.
A generational shift?
Australia's leading North Korea expert Leonid Petrov said the reality was times had changed and Mr Kim was adapting by showcasing his sister and wife, adding it may have nothing to do with a lack of adult male heir.
"Communist leaders [such as Joseph Stalin] never attended public events with their wives and consorts," Dr Petrov, a senior lecturer at the International College of Management Sydney, said.
"Only after Gorbachev, did Russian presidents get [more] relaxed about their family life.
"I guess the same was in North Korea."
Certainly, experts suggest Mr Kim is much more like his grandfather than father and he portrays himself as more of a modern family man.
"Kim Jong-il never brought any of his three wives into the public eye; they existed only to be mothers and hidden away," Professor Dalton said.
But Mr Kim, on the other hand, seems happy for his wife to play a role similar to a US first lady, dressing in Western clothes, wearing high heels and becoming something of a fashion icon to North Korea's women.
Professor Dalton said women in North Korea had seen how the leader's wife dressed and were known to go without lunch to be able to afford a pair of heels.
But what remains unclear is what role Ms Kim is being groomed to play.
Stimson Centre fellow and deputy director at respected Washington-based North Korea monitoring service 38 North, Jenny Town, said Mr Kim kept his sister close even before he took power.
"They are very close and she is his close confidant," she said.
Kim Yo-jong has taken on increasingly important roles, including as head of the publicity and information department of the central committee of the workers' party of North Korea.
"This was an influential and important position within the party," Ms Town said.
"She is also largely in control of Kim Jong-un's schedule and sees to logistics, ensuring the optics are favourable such as that famous scene when she switched out the pen Kim Jong-un was set to use when signing the Singapore Joint Statement."
No-one knows for sure why she did it, but some analysts assume it was a security measure to avoid using a pen provided by the Americans.
Why did a dictator's younger sister rise to prominence in 2020?
Ms Town said Mr Kim's sister was more vocal during the middle of 2020, but it remained unclear why.
She suggested it could have served a few purposes, including giving her much-needed military experience by running the anti-South Korea campaign.
"This reinforced her power within the political structure, as well as her ability to be decisive and hard line, despite her gender," Ms Town said.
It also gave Mr Kim some political cover at a delicate time in relations with South Korea.
"It was a way to send across a hard-line message without it completely shutting the door to further diplomacy as it wasn't ordered directly by him," Ms Town said.
"And in the end, he came in and stopped it when he felt it had achieved its purpose.
"Further publicity of her when Kim Jong-un was rumoured to be sick seemed to be one way to signal family continuity to domestic audiences, hence continuity of power, even if he was unwell or something more serious was taking place."
But Ms Town said it was hard to say where Ms Kim stood in the succession story.
Mr Kim's motive for promoting his sister could be strategic, out of necessity, or a bit of both.
"She is a candidate, especially since she is the sibling with closest relations to Kim Jong-un and has been gaining important political and military experience," Ms Town said.
She may even be part of a contingency plan in case something sudden happens to Mr Kim.
"But the other way to look at the situation is that the family can build up her public profile and keep her close to Kim Jong-un because she is not threatening to his power, as a power brother would have been seen," she said.
'Cute but poisonous'
Whatever is at play, experts agreed Ms Kim was ambitious.
After a few months absence from public life in North Korea, Ms Kim has re-emerged with gusto.
Just last week she warned South Korea's Foreign Minister she would pay dearly for casting doubt on Pyongyang's claim the North was coronavirus-free.
"It can be seen from the reckless remarks made by [Kang Kyung-wha] without any consideration of the consequences that she is too eager to further chill the frozen relations," Ms Kim said in a statement on December 9.
"We will never forget her words and she might have to pay dearly for it."
Dr Petrov said while Mr Kim could rely on his younger sister, she had proven to be heavy handed this year by verbally attacking South Korean President Moon Jae-in and ordering the detonation of the inter-Korean Communication Office in June.
He warned this could end badly for her.
"Kim Yo-jong is cute but poisonous," he said.
But Dr Petrov said Ms Kim had clearly hit a nerve with her southern rivals, despite her words being "empty threats, hot air and bitter vitriol".
"The South Korean Government has taken it seriously and tightened freedom of speech by adopting the new legislation that banned the provocative practice of sending air balloons with anti-North propaganda across the DMZ," he said.
"Sending money and USB sticks across the front line has been in breach of [security laws] for two decades, but only now [it] got criminalised."
Did Kim Yo-jong miss her shot?
Ms Kim stepping back from public view for a few months earlier this year may have been a sign she overstepped the mark in her role, according to Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
But Dr Davis said she remained a "rising star" and could still prove to be a "player" in any North Korean leadership change.
With another party congress coming up next month, Dr Davis suggested Ms Kim may even be promoted, despite any previous miscalculations or heavy handedness.
"With [Mr] Kim still looking grossly overweight and unhealthy, his ability to stay in power is more likely to be threatened by his health than internal power struggles," he said.
"But Kim Yo-jong is clearly very ambitious. She may be thinking she is the logical heir-apparent once her brother dies."
Whatever the role of the women in Mr Kim's inner circle, Ms Town said most of the real power was still largely held by men — both in government and within the family.
"What we see happening with women among North Korean elite leadership is still only a handful of women in that echelon of society doing well.
"How far they can move up is likely limited."
