North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un continued to dominate Time’s online poll for the most influential figure in this year’s news, according to the weekly magazine’s website.

Kim garnered 2,257,077 votes as of Sunday morning, dwarfing the rest of the competition. Tailing the hermit kingdom’s leader were newly appointed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi with 362,473 votes, Pakistan’s inspirational teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai with 362,473 votes, and South Korea’s rapping phenomenon Psy, who had 80,163 votes.

Kim Jong-un, who is believed to be in his late 20s, took over the reign of the communist nation following the death of his father Kim Jong-il, who died last year after a 17-year dictatorship. Psy became an overnight sensation after his “Gangnam Style” music video went viral online and became the most watched video ever on YouTube last month.

If either of the stout Koreans is named person of the year, he will be the first Asian national to receive the recognition by Time since 1986, when former Filipino president Corazon C. Aquino took the honor.

It is unclear, however, if Kim’s commanding lead will translate into him actually winning the honor; just last year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the top vote-getter in the online polls, but Time named “The Protestor” ― representing many global protest movements ― as the person of the year.

In 2009, “Iran Protestors” was the overwhelming winner in online polls but Time decided to go with U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who finished the poll in seventh.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)