The Personality Profile of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un

Authors

Aubrey Immelman, St. John's University / College of St. BenedictFollow

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

4-2018

Disciplines

Asian Studies | Defense and Security Studies | International Relations | Leadership Studies | Other Political Science | Other Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, conducted 2013–2018 from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Kim was collected from open-source media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM–III–R, DSM–IV, and DSM–5.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Kim’s primary personality patterns were found to be Outgoing/gregarious and Dominant/controlling, supplemented by secondary Ambitious/confident, Dauntless/adventurous, and Accommodating/cooperative features. Given his Outgoing–Dominant primary personality composite, Kim may be classified as a high-dominance extravert.

Outgoing individuals are dramatic attention‑getters who thrive on being the center of social events, go out of their way to be popular with others, and are confident in their social skills; they may have an impulsive tendency and be prone to boredom. Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke obedience and respect; they can be tough and unsentimental and often make effective leaders. Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and may act as though entitled. Dauntless individuals tend to flout tradition, conventional standards, and cultural mores, dislike following routine, and may act impulsively and recklessly; they are resistant to coercion and may exhibit a strong need for autonomy and self-determination. Accommodating individuals are notably cordial, cooperative, and amicable; they are willing to adapt their preferences to be compatible with those of others, to reconcile differences to achieve peaceable solutions, and to concede or compromise when necessary.

Kim Jong-un’s major personality-based leadership strength is a distinctly outgoing tendency, supplemented by an accommodating inclination, a fitting descriptive label for which would be congenial–cooperative. Leaders possessing this personal quality can be expected to be jovial, socially gregarious, agreeable, accommodating, and obliging in their relationships with others; they are characteristically gracious, neighborly, and benevolent, pre­ferring to avoid conflict and seek harmony with others. These attributes could serve North Korea well with respect to greater openness in the international arena.

Comments

The research was conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics (USPP), a collaborative faculty–student research program in the psychology of politics at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict in Collegeville and St. Joseph, Minnesota, directed by Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, who specializes in the psychological assessment of presidential candidates and world leaders.

More information and updates: http://personality-politics.org/the-personality-profile-of-north-korean-supreme-leader-kim-jong-un

Related reports

Containing North Korea: The Psychological Profile of Kim Jong Il » https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/105/

The Personality Profile of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Research poster presented by Meghan Keaveny, Franchesca Cromett, Cole Stang, Kristen Jacobs, Kara Fiedler, Grace Arrington, Abigail Granger, and Meg McMahon, 17th Annual Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day, College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minn., April 27, 2017. (Faculty advisor: Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D.)

The Personality Profile of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Research poster presented by Katlin Rice, Austen Luetmer, Suntina Spehar, Hillary Rethlake, Lucas Vetsch, Amanda Olson, and Mariah Ogden-Kellington, 18th Annual Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day, College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minn., April 26, 2018. (Faculty advisor: Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D.)

The Personality Profile of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Poster presented at the 41st Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, San Antonio, TX, July 4-7, 2018.

The Leadership Style of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un » https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/120/

Copyright Statement

Copyright © 2018 by Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics / Aubrey Immelman

Recommended Citation

Immelman, A. (2018, April). The personality profile of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un (Working Paper No. 2.0). Collegeville and St. Joseph, MN: St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict, Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics. Retrieved from Digital Commons website: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/119/