Attention Chinese Media: Kim Jong Un Is 2012's Most Interesting Man

By Mark Memmott

Published November 27, 2012 at 9:34 AM CST

The mysterious, most-interesting, super-sexy North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (And if you believe all that, you may be reading too many reports from Chinese media.)

Update at 8:15 a.m. ET, Nov. 28. And Now, It's Gone:

People's Daily Online has realized it was duped and removed its glorious account of Kim Jong Un's sexiness, NPR's Frank Langfitt tells us.

But you can still read our original post:

Shh.

Please don't tell the editors at People's Daily Online that our headline might not be true.

After all, they seem to have believed The Onion was serious when it declared Kim Jong Un is 2012's "sexiest man alive."

"North Korea's top leader named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012" says the People's Daily headline.

That "news" comes with a 55-image photo gallery of North Korea's young leader in all sorts of supposedly sexy poses.

As The Associated Press reminds us, China's state-run media has been fooled by The Onion before:

"In 2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the capital city's biggest tabloids at the time, published as news the fictional account that the U.S. Congress wanted a new building and that it might leave Washington. The Onion article was a deadpan spoof of the way sports teams threaten to leave cities in order to get new stadiums."

North Korea, of course, is known for saying superlative things about its leaders and how "great" life is there. Last year, it declared that China is the world's "happiest nation" and that North Korea is No. 2.