SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from North Korea

Top 6

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary North Korean Social Activists of all time. This list of famous North Korean Social Activists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Kim Hyong-jik (1894 - 1926)

With an HPI of 63.88, Kim Hyong-jik is the most famous North Korean Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages on wikipedia.

Kim Hyong-jik (Korean: 김형직; 10 July 1894 – 5 June 1926) was a Korean independence activist during Japanese rule. He was the father of the North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, the paternal grandfather of Kim Jong Il, and a great-grandfather of the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.

2. An Jung-geun (1879 - 1910)

With an HPI of 62.58, An Jung-geun is the 2nd most famous North Korean Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

An Jung-geun (Korean: 안중근; Korean pronunciation: [ɐndʑuŋɡɯn]; 2 September 1879 – 26 March 1910), sometimes spelled Ahn Joong-keun, was a Korean independence activist. His baptismal name was Thomas (도마). He is remembered as a martyr in both South and North Korea for his 1909 assassination of the Japanese politician Itō Hirobumi, who had previously served as the Resident-General of Korea and first Prime Minister of Japan. An was imprisoned and later executed by Japanese authorities on 26 March 1910. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1962 by the South Korean government, the most prestigious civil decoration in the Republic of Korea, for his efforts for Korean independence.

3. Kang Pan-sok (1892 - 1932)

With an HPI of 58.77, Kang Pan-sok is the 3rd most famous North Korean Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Kang Pan Sok (Korean: 강반석; MR: Kang Pansŏk; 21 April 1892 – 31 July 1932) was the mother of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, the paternal grandmother of Kim Jong Il, and a great grandmother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

4. Cho Man-sik (b. 1883)

With an HPI of 54.49, Cho Man-sik is the 4th most famous North Korean Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Cho Man-sik (Korean: 조만식; 1 February 1883 – 18 October 1950), also known by his art name Godang (고당), was a Korean independence activist. He became involved in the power struggle that enveloped North Korea in the months following the Japanese surrender after World War II. Originally, Cho was supported by the Soviet Union for the eventual rule of North Korea. However, due to his opposition to trusteeship, Cho lost Soviet support and was forced from power by the Soviet-backed and pro Soviet communists in the north (a predecessor of the Workers' Party of Korea). Placed under house arrest in January 1946, he later disappeared into the North Korean prison system, where confirmed reports of him end. He is generally believed to have been executed soon after the start of the Korean War, possibly in October 1950.

5. Kim Ok (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 49.16, Kim Ok is the 5th most famous North Korean Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Kim Ok (Korean: 김옥; born 28 August 1964) is a former North Korean government employee who served as Kim Jong Il's personal secretary from the 1980s until his death in 2011. After the death of Ko Yong Hui in August 2004, she regularly met with foreign officials as the de facto first lady of North Korea, and was rumored to be the supreme leader's fourth wife.

6. Shin Dong-hyuk (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 39.62, Shin Dong-hyuk is the 6th most famous North Korean Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Shin Dong-hyuk (born Shin In Geun, 19 November 1982 or 1980) is a North Korean-born human rights activist. He claims to be the only prisoner to have successfully escaped from a "total-control zone" grade internment camp in North Korea. His biography, Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West, was written with the assistance of former Washington Post journalist Blaine Harden. Shin has given talks to audiences around the world about his life in North Korea's Camp 14 to raise awareness of the situation in North Korean internment and concentration camps and North Korea. Shin has been described as the world's "single strongest voice" on the atrocities inside North Korean camps by a member of the United Nations' first commission of inquiry into human rights abuses of North Korea. However, many experts on North Korean politics and fellow defectors, have expressed scepticism for Shin's stories of life in North Korea. In January 2015, he recanted many aspects of his story of life in North Korea after a video was released showing Shin's father alive, despite Shin having previously claimed he was dead. He also admitted that he lied about being in Camp 14 for his whole life until he escaped in his early 20s, saying that he was actually transferred to a different prison when he was aged 6.