Kim Il-sung

About Kim Il-sung

Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) was a North Korean politician who established the state of North Korea (the DPRK) and served as its supreme leader from 1948 until his death. His historical importance stems from founding one of the world's most isolated and politically unique states, creating a system of hereditary rule and establishing a pervasive personality cult. This sustained, singular political control over a nation-state for nearly five decades is why the Pantheon project ranks him at HPI #148 among all historical figures.

Despite this significant geopolitical ranking, Kim Il-sung's modern internet attention is relatively low, registering only 24K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This places him at a stark -23x attention gap relative to his historical importance, indicating significant underattention online. To contextualize this, he receives far less modern digital focus than figures like Patrick Swayze, who ranks #904 in importance but garners 2.7M views, or even Murad IV, a contemporary politician ranked #769 in importance who pulls in 318K views.

Furthermore, his interest appears to be waning, with Wikipedia views declining by 15.1% year-over-year and his 2025 Momentum (Q1 vs Q3) dropping by 21%, suggesting that contemporary digital engagement is rapidly receding.