Documented path
Kim Kyong-il joined Rimyongsu Sports Club in Pyongyang in 2005 at age 17 and represented North Korea at youth level (U-17, U-20, U-23). He made his senior national team debut on October 21, 2007 at age 18 in a World Cup qualifier against Mongolia, and was included in North Korea's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, though he did not appear in any matches at the tournament.
Born in 1988 in Pyongyang, North Korea; he grew up in the North Korean football system, joining Rimyongsu club in the DPR Korea League from a young age.
North Korean international footballer; plays for Rimyongsu in the DPR Korea League; current status not widely documented in international media.
Where the conditions came from
Each is placed on a −1 to 3 scale from documented evidence, and the three are never added together. A combined total would rank Kim Kyong-il against other people. Held apart, they explain why this path ran differently from another one—which is the only comparison this project supports.
The marble itself
+1Tailwind
What capability, drive, or early skill is documented in the person rather than their surroundings?
Represented North Korea at U-17 and U-20 World Cups, suggesting above-average ability. Senior national team debut at 18. No specific prodigy indicators or exceptional early achievement documented.
Where it was dropped
0Neither way
What money, family standing, network, or permission was already in place before the work began?
No family background information available. Born in Pyongyang, North Korea. Career shaped by the North Korean state sports system rather than family resources.
The shape of the track
+1Tailwind
What place, timing, institution, or peer group made the next step available?
North Korean state sports system. Rimyongsu Sports Club in Pyongyang. Youth national team progression (U-17, U-20, U-23). 2010 World Cup squad. Limited infrastructure and isolation from international football development pathways.
A −1 is a documented headwind, not a missing value; a 0 means the sources record nothing notable either way. Annotation confidence: Low. These are analyst readings of what the sources record, not measurements of merit, talent, or effort. The twenty-two scored dimensions remain available inside the deeper research detail.
What moved through the conditions
Silence in a biography is not evidence that perseverance was absent.
This is an unchosen opening or condition in the record, not an estimate of how much luck caused the outcome.
Strongest documented signals: Elite institution pipeline, Frontier geography, Direct domain exposure.
Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.
Strongest observed levers: Domain proximity, Started serious reps before 20, Prior reps.
Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
The timeline below shows the sequence of work and transitions around the selected early milestone. It is evidence of a path, not proof that every step was necessary.
Notable, but primarily known within a niche. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Kim Kyong-il's worth or future potential.
Question four · where did the leverage come from?
Each non-zero lever gets a best-supported origin, evidence signals, and confidence. Unresolved is the honest default when the biography cannot distinguish self-built, advantage-enabled, earned, external, or mixed.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
A structural wave is external to the person, even when their position improved access to it.
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Kim Kyong-il's outcome attributable to any origin.
Structural luck, Encounter luck, Event luck, Outcome variance can change every arrow in the path. This successful-only dataset cannot observe the near-identical paths that did not break through, so luck stays visible and unscored.
Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."
Not documented in reviewed sources.
Not documented in reviewed sources.
Kim Kyong-il's career was shaped by the North Korean state sports system. He joined Rimyongsu SC at 17, progressed through national youth teams (U-17 World Cup 2005, U-20 World Cup 2007), and earned senior national team caps from age 18. His selection to North Korea's 2010 World Cup squad at 22 — the nation's first World Cup appearance since 1966 — is the defining milestone of his career. No family background information was available in reviewed sources. The North Korean sports pipeline provided structured early specialization and international competition access.
advantage confidence: Low · source count: 4 · audit: partial_source_verification · status: subagent_researched_beta