(CNN) — China, as one Twitter user wrote Tuesday, has been fooled by the "mysterious Western art of satire."
The merciless comedy website The Onion has declared North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the "sexiest man alive for 2012." And it appears China's People's Daily Online has taken the story seriously.
"I love this one," Onion editor Will Tracy told CNN. "It has a certain delightfulness to it."
The Chinese story reprinted satirical comments describing Kim's "air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side," his "impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and," the story says, "that famous smile."