Timothy Oyomare
After U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the second-most searched figure in the world on Google in 2020, according to Google Trends and reports.
Kim ranked second in the people category to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden.
Google searches for Kim especially hiked between April 26 and May 2, when there was a barrage of media reports regarding suspicions about his health after CNN reported he was in a critical condition after surgery.
Along with Kim’s name, some other keywords linked to speculation about his health were also highly searched, including “death,” “coma,” and “brain dead,” according to the Korean language version of Voice of America (VOA).
While rumors also rose that his powerful sister Kim Yo-jong might succeed him if he died or could not manage the state anymore, “Kim Yo-jong” and “Kim Jong-un sister” were also searched a lot.
The brouhaha surrounding Kim’s health issues and possible death disappeared after the North’s state media showed photos of him on May 2 attending a ceremony for the completion of a fertilizer factory the previous day.
The largest number of searches for Kim Jong-un were made in Singapore, where the first Pyongyang-Washington summit was held in 2018, followed by Uganda and the U.S., according to VOA, which did not explain why people in Uganda showed such a strong interest in the North Korean leader.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ranked third in the people category on Google Trends, followed by U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and actor Tom Hanks. U.S. President Donald Trump did not make it into the top 10.
-koreatimes