North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and South Korean “Gangnam Style” singer Psy have not made Time magazine’s shortlist of candidates for Person of the Year 2012.

Time unveiled its shortlist of eight on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday, a day before announcing its Person of the Year.

Hosts of the morning program named the eight frontrunners for this year’s cover.

The elite list includes Malala Yousafazi, the 14-year-old Pakistani activist who survived a shot to the head by the Taliban; U.S. President Barack Obama; Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi; and Bill and Hillary Clinton for their global humanitarian and political activism. 

Two prominent business leaders also made the cut: Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer and Apple CEO Tim Cook. The Higgs Boson ― the particle of the year ― and the three scientists who discovered it made the cut.

The only group to appear on this year’s list is “undocumented immigrants,” a choice that highlights the growth of the Latino population in the U.S.

None of the eight candidates were the top choice of Time’s online voters, who picked Kim Jong-un as this year’s top newsmaker. He received more than 5.6 million votes. Regarding his failure to remain on the shortlist, Time’s editors said that they don’t make their selection based on the poll results, which they use merely as reference.

Psy placed 17th with 100,722 votes in the online poll.

But the North Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday that Kim “was selected by Time subscribers as the magazine’s ‘man of the year.’”

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)