"Why Does Uganda Appear There?" Kim Jong-un Ranks 2nd Most Searched Person on Google This Year... Most Searched in Uganda

Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, presided over an expanded Political Bureau meeting at the Party Central Committee headquarters on the 15th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] The second most searched person on Google this year was Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea. The country that searched for Chairman Kim the most was Uganda.

On the 25th, foreign media including the Voice of America (VOA) reported that Kim Jong-un ranked second in the 'Person of the Year 2020' category released by Google.

The first place was Joe Biden, the President-elect of the United States.

Since the breakdown of the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi in 2019, Kim Jong-un’s rise to second place amid such attention appears to have been greatly influenced by the 'health rumors' raised in April this year.

In fact, searches for Kim Jong-un were concentrated from April 26, when the health rumors were at their peak, until May 2, when he was shown to be in good health.

After one media outlet reported on Kim Jong-un’s health rumors, the U.S. CNN broadcast several related articles such as 'Kim Jong-un is in serious danger after surgery' and 'The U.S. government is monitoring the situation.'

At that time, fake news such as 'He has already died' or 'A look-alike is impersonating Kim Jong-un' also spread widely online. This seems to have caused a surge in searches for Kim Jong-un.

The most searched related terms along with Kim Jong-un were 'coronavirus (COVID-19)', 'date of death', and 'death news.'

Interestingly, the region that searched for Kim Jong-un the most was Uganda. Singapore ranked second, followed by the United States in third place.

Netizens reacted with comments such as "Why is Uganda coming up here?", "Kim Jong-un surpassed BTS," and "The death rumors of Kim Jong-un seem to have played a part."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.