Kim Il-sung

About Kim Il-sung

Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) was the founder and first Supreme Leader of North Korea, establishing the nation's unique political ideology of *Juche* (self-reliance) and ruling from 1948 until his death. As the architect of the Korean War and the figurehead for a highly isolated and totalitarian state, his political actions reshaped the geopolitical landscape of the entire Korean peninsula and initiated a Cold War flashpoint that persists today. This sustained, foundational role in 20th-century history is reflected in his high placement by the Pantheon project, ranking him as the #148 most historically important figure globally.

Despite this high historical importance, Kim Il-sung's modern digital footprint is surprisingly small. In 2025, his Wikipedia page accrued only 24K annualized views, placing him at a substantial $-23$x attention gap, indicating severe underattention relative to his impact. For context, his online visibility is far lower than that of contemporary politician Hassanal Bolkiah (1.2M views) or even historical curiosity George IV of the United Kingdom (122K views), despite their significantly lower HPI rankings.

Furthermore, interest appears to be actively waning; his 2025 year-over-year change shows a decline of $-16.0\%$, and momentum between Q1 and Q3 dropped by $-15\%$, suggesting his legacy is fading from contemporary public curiosity online.