Thirty-six-year-old Kim Young-hoon, who claims to be the smartest person in the world with an IQ of 276, announced over a video on X that he will be seeking asylum in the United States due to religious and political reasons.
Mr Kim said in his Oct 30 video that he can no longer remain in South Korea because his country is ruled by a “pro-North Korea leftist government that suppresses biblical truth and silences Christian voices and betrays the very freedom that our ancestors fought to protect.”
He further accused his government of punishing patriots and glorifying communists.
“Truth has become a crime and faith has become a target,” Mr Kim added.
The World’s Highest IQ Record Holder seeks asylum in the United States to escape South Korea’s pro–North Korea and anti-Christian government. https://t.co/itffVAgvKC pic.twitter.com/JkG6uGqos1
— YoungHoon Kim, IQ 276 (@yhbryankimiq) October 30, 2025
Claiming to choose freedom over compromise and faith over fear, he said that this is why he is seeking refuge in the United States, which he described as “a nation founded in God’s Word,” where faith is protected and not persecuted.
In an earlier post, Mr Kim wrote that he is the “first South Korean to apply for asylum to the US President Donald Trump administration.”
World’s “cleverest” man?
Mr Kim’s claims of having the highest IQ in the world is backed by the World Mind Sports Committee. In July 2024, it listed him as having an IQ of 276 at the World Memory Championships. For the sake of comparison, an IQ of 140 is considered genius.
His IQ is also certified by the Korea Record Institute.
According to Mr Kim, he was recognised as having the highest IQ by Guinness World Records. However, this category was discontinued in 1989, around the time Mr Kim was born.
A report in The Telegraph says that according to Mr Kim’s profile, he has degrees in psychology, neuroscience, counselling and coaching, linguistics, sociology, philosophy, and non-denominational theology, from universities in the UK and South Korea. He also has a PhD in statistics from Oxford University.
Other reports say that the asylum seeker has received backlash, even mockery, for his announcement, especially due to the reasons he gave. Others pointed out that, given the crackdown on immigrants in the United States at the moment, now is hardly the best time to make a move there.
As for his allegations about South Korea, the last time we checked, the country is still a functioning democracy, and there is little proof that Christians are being persecuted. Mr Kim may be referring to the high-profile case of Son Hyun-bok, a pastor from Busan who has been formally accused of violating election laws when he endorsed particular conservative candidates earlier this year during church meetings. /TISG
