Chinese, Korean Papers Fall For Onion's ‘Kim Jong-un Sexiest Man Alive’ Joke

Just like a top Iranian news agency, a few Planned Parenthood-hating GOP congressmen and everyone on the “Literally Unbelievable” catch-all website, some people still can’t tell good satire when they see it.

To be fair, it’s not as if you’d really be able to tell whether a Chinese or Korean newspaper is spinning satire or telling truths, so let’s chalk it up to being lost in translation. Nonetheless, when The Onion named North Korean wunderkind Jonggy Boy Kim Jong Un its “Sexiest Man Alive For 2012,” two major reputable newspapers in China and South Korea fell for it.

Here’s the People’s Daily Online:

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And the Korea Times:

Both papers quoted liberally from The Onion:

With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper’s editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile.

“He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time,” Onion Style and Entertainment editor Marissa Blake-Zweibel said. “And that’s the quality that makes him the sort of man women want, and men want to be. He’s a real hunk with real intensity who also knows how to cut loose and let his hair down.”

Added Blake-Zweibel, “Ri Sol-ju is one lucky lady, that’s for sure!”

Kim Jong-un joins this prestigious list of past winners:

2011: Bashar al-Assad
2010: Bernie Madoff
2009: Charles and David Koch (co-winners)
2008: Ted Kaczynski
2007: T. Herman Zweibel

SEE ALSO:
• Iranian News Agency Plagiarizes The Onion to Bash Obama
• 20 Things We Know About Kim Jong-un
• People Apparently Still Don’t Know The Onion Is Satire

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