Portrait of Kim Jong Un
In office today

Kim Jong Un

Supreme Leader of North Korea, 2011 to present

A UN inquiry found crimes against humanity by his state

Rules a hereditary one-party state that is tightly closed to the outside world and has built up a nuclear weapons program.

Kim Jong Un sits in the left-authoritarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: strongly state-led and strongly authoritarian. The clearest positions are strongly authoritarian on liberty and authority, strongly strength-first on war and peace and strongly state-led on economy.

Read more about Kim Jong Un on Wikipedia →

Where Kim Jong Un sits on eight dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this leader's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyStrongly state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityStrongly authoritarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureStrongly traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationStrongly nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentLeaning growth-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologySlightly tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceStrongly strength-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsSlightly institutional
Anti-establishmentInstitutional

Leaders most like Kim Jong Un

Saddam Hussein President of Iraq, 1979 to 200378%Alexander Lukashenko President of Belarus, 1994 to present77%Joseph Stalin Soviet leader, 1920s to 195373%Louis XIV King of France, 1643 to 171573%Gamal Abdel Nasser President of Egypt, 1956 to 197071%Benito Mussolini Prime Minister of Italy, 1922 to 194370%

Leaders furthest from Kim Jong Un

Mahatma Gandhi Leader of the Indian independence movement0%Václav Havel President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, 1989 to 20030%José Mujica President of Uruguay, 2010 to 20150%

Political views closest to Kim Jong Un

MilitarismTreats military strength and martial values as central to national life.67%GaullismA French tradition of national independence, a strong presidency and a leading role for…65%FascismAn ultranationalist one-party dictatorship built on a leader cult, militarism and the…64%

Percentages show how close two profiles are across all eight dimensions. Including a person here is for historical study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: Владимир Смирнов / ТАСС, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.