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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Kim Jong Un sexiest man alive?
Chinese paper takes Onion story to heart
Korean Central News Agency / The Associated Press archives Kim Jong Un, with his wife Ri Sol Ju. How could she resist his boyish charms? (CP)
BEIJING -- The online version of China's Communist Party newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the Sexiest Man Alive -- not realizing it is satire.
The People's Daily on Tuesday ran a 55-page photo spread on its website in a tribute to the round-faced leader, under the headline North Korea's top leader named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.
Quoting The Onion's spoof report, the Chinese newspaper wrote, "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," the People's Daily cited The Onion as saying.
The photos the People's Daily selected include Kim on horseback squinting into the light and Kim waving toward a military parade. In other photos, he is wearing sunglasses and smiling, or touring a facility with his wife.
People's Daily could not immediately be reached for comment.
It is not the first time a state-run Chinese newspaper has fallen for a fictional report by the just-for-laughs The Onion.
In 2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the capital city's biggest tabloids at the time, published as news the fictional account the U.S. Congress wanted a new building and it might leave Washington. The Onion article was a spoof of the way sports teams threaten to leave cities in order to get new stadiums.
Two months ago, Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency reprinted a story from The Onion about a supposed survey showing most rural white Americans would rather vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than U.S. President Barack Obama. It included a quote from a fictional West Virginia resident saying he'd rather go to a baseball game with Ahmadinejad because "he takes national defence seriously."
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 28, 2012 A14
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