The Most Famous

WRESTLERS from North Korea

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This page contains a list of the greatest North Korean Wrestlers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,027 Wrestlers, 2 of which were born in North Korea. This makes North Korea the birth place of the 61st most number of Wrestlers behind Tajikistan, and Lithuania.

Top 4

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

Photo of Kim Il

1. Kim Il (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 45.41, Kim Il is the most famous North Korean Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages on wikipedia.

Kim Il (born 25 July 1971) is a North Korean freestyle wrestler. He won two Olympic gold medals at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics in the light flyweight (–48 kg) category. He won silver at the 1991 World Championships. In 2006, he was inducted into the Federation Internationale de Luttes Associees Hall of Fame.

Photo of Ri Hak-son

2. Ri Hak-son (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 42.61, Ri Hak-son is the 2nd most famous North Korean Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Ri Hak-son (born 12 August 1969) is a North Korean wrestler and Olympic champion in Freestyle wrestling.

Photo of Ri Se-ung

3. Ri Se-ung (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 32.69, Ri Se-ung is the 3rd most famous North Korean Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ri Se-ung (born 22 December 1998) is a North Korean Greco-Roman wrestler. He won one of the bronze medals in the 60 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. He is a three-time medalist, including gold, at the Asian Wrestling Championships in the men's 60 kg event.

Photo of Choe Hyo-gyong

4. Choe Hyo-gyong (b. 2000)

With an HPI of 30.57, Choe Hyo-gyong is the 4th most famous North Korean Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Choe Hyo-gyong (born 10 May 2000) is a North Korean wrestler. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal.

People

Pantheon has 4 people classified as North Korean wrestlers born between 1969 and 2000. Of these 4, 4 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living North Korean wrestlers include Kim Il, Ri Hak-son, and Ri Se-ung. As of April 2024, 3 new North Korean wrestlers have been added to Pantheon including Ri Hak-son, Ri Se-ung, and Choe Hyo-gyong.

Living North Korean Wrestlers

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Newly Added North Korean Wrestlers (2025)

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