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 . '' The story on People 's Daily Online on Tuesday illustrates the mutual backscratching that China and North Korea exercise through their government-run media . The incident also shows foreign media outlets ' difficulty in navigating The Onion 's brand of satire . The Chinese website had underscored its story by including its own 55-page photo gallery to accompany the text , which was published in both English and Chinese . But the pages and the images were no longer available Wednesday . A woman responding to a call Wednesday to the office of the website said it was `` impossible that the People 's Daily will quote from any unreliable media -- we do verify our news and sources . '' The woman , who declined to identify herself , noted that the item had been removed . The People 's Daily Online has a separate office from the print version of the Chinese Communist Party 's main newspaper . Tracy said he 's not surprised when legitimate news sites fall for his high-level tomfoolery , but this was the first time The Onion had named a `` sexiest man alive . '' `` We knew it would get a response , '' he said `` but we did n't expect it would get life from abroad . '' A satirical post on The Onion congratulated the People 's Daily for its coverage . The site `` has served as one of the Onion 's Far East bureaus for quite some time , and I believe their reportage as of late has been uncommonly fine , as well as politically astute , '' said The Onion 's Grant Jones in a e-mail statement . `` May our felicitous business association continue for centuries to come . '' Earlier Tuesday , The Onion pointed readers to the Chinese website : `` please visit our friends at the People 's Daily in China , a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion , Inc. Exemplary reportage , comrades . '' Read the Chinese story . Twitter users went wild over the editorial faux pas . `` It makes me cry from another room ! '' Tweeted Francesca Ulivi @ fraubass . `` Not sure they know this was a joke , '' wrote @ loweringthebar . `` Curse of the # Onion again , '' said Colin Freeman @ colinfreeman99 . Yes . Again . If this scenario sounds familiar it 's because The Onion is no stranger to fooling government-run news outlets . In September , an Onion satire fooled Iran 's semi-official Fars News Agency . Fars published an Onion story claiming that a Gallup poll found that rural white Americans preferred Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over President Barack Obama . On the Chinese microblog Sina Weibo , netizens made their own teasing comments about People 's Daily . `` Foolish foreigners , the party paper was born to be funny , '' wrote @ sheldon-BaiBai . `` The world was fooled by the People 's Daily , because no Chinese believes this paper , '' wrote @ Hai_Dao_Wu_Bian . The Onion never writes its stories with the intention of fooling government agencies , Tracy said . But `` it 's great when it happens . We hope it happens more often . '' This prank , he said with obvious glee , may turn out to be the legendary Onion fake story that veterans will talk about for years to come . `` We essentially just fooled the government of China . ''
Onion editor : Tricking China has a `` certain delightfulness '' A North Korean news site takes an Onion satire for a real story . The Onion declares Chinese leader Kim `` sexiest man alive '' Onion runs portions of the Onion story and one photos of Kim .