Kim Jong-il

About Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, was the second supreme leader of the state, succeeding his father, Kim Il-sung. His historical importance, reflected in his Pantheon HPI Rank of #221, stems from his consolidation of absolute political power, his development of the Songun (military-first) policy, and his role in the protracted international tensions surrounding the nation's nuclear program. As a singular figure who commanded a hermetically sealed nation for nearly two decades, his impact on modern geopolitics and human history is substantial.

Despite this high historical ranking, Kim Jong-il's internet presence in 2025 is markedly low, revealing an attention gap of -8x compared to his historical significance. He accrued only 58K annualized Wikipedia views last year. For context, this places his modern digital footprint well behind that of Attila, ranked similarly in importance at #230, who garnered 1.2 million views. This suggests that while the Pantheon project registers his global cultural impact, the current digital zeitgeist pays significantly less attention to him than to figures of comparable historical weight.

Furthermore, the data indicates his digital presence is actively receding; the annualized 2025 views show a year-over-year decline of 15.4%, and momentum dropped by 35% between Q1 and Q3, suggesting his modern relevance is continuing to fade in the online sphere.