One of the Internet’s most prolific Kim Jong-un memes. (Photo: 1mut)

A few weeks ago we reported that 4chan, the Internet’s favorite underbelly, was galvanizing to vote North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the top of Time’s person of the year reader poll. It seems it has been successful in its pursuit, as Time just announced that Kim Jong-un won the spot. This, of course, doesn’t mean that he will certainly be the Time editors’ person of the year pick, but it demonstrates the immense online voting power of 4chan.

Kim Jong-un garned 5.6 million votes, putting him just ahead of Jon Stewart. Time was gracious enough to acknowledge 4chan’s influence:

However, some of the highest vote tallies got a boost from members of Internet forums like 4Chan who launched a campaign to manipulate the results pushing North Korea’s supreme leader to the top of the list.

A few days ago, 4chan also spelled out “KJU Gas Chambers” with the first letters of each nominee’s name, because it’s 4chan, guys.

Jessica Roy is the editor of Betabeat and a tech writer at the New York Observer. Follow Jessica on Twitter or via RSS. jroy@observer.com