Looks like someone didn't get the joke.
A Chinese media outlet reportedly re-broadcast a satirical article by The New Yorker's Andy Borowitz that said North Korea has postponed a possible missile test because of a Windows 8 glitch.
According to the South China Morning Post, the 21 Century Business Herald posted the fake news on its Sina Weibo micro-blogging page and included a comical quote from "a source close to the North Korean regime" that jokingly claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was so angry over the Windows 8 issue that he was considering declaring war on Microsoft.
The Herald, which is based in the Chinese province of Guangdong, has a readership of more than 750,000 people. But it seems to have realized its mistake. As the National Journal's Brian Fung points out, the Herald's micro-blogging post seems to have been deleted.
Tensions have been high in recent weeks as North Korea has made threats against South Korea and Japan and released photos that appeared to show a bombing map of U.S. cities. Earlier, the U.S. flew bomber planes over South Korea in a show of military strength to the North, which a Pyongyang spokesman called "unpardonable provocation."
This isn't the first time Chinese media have fallen for American spoofs. Earlier this month, the country's state news channel reported that Virgin Atlantic was building a glass-bottomed airplane. In reality, though, that "news" was an April Fool's joke by Virgin's founder, Richard Branson.
Back in November, Chinese Communist Party news site People's Daily fell for a satirical Onion article naming Kim Jong Un "the sexiest man alive." The Daily posted over fifty photos of the Supreme Leader before an editor admitted the mistake and said the photos would be removed.
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