11 Feb 2012

Kim Jong-Un Dead? That's The Rumor

In the past few hours, Twitter has exploded with unsubstantiated rumors that the new North Korean dictator died in Beijing today and that a coup is underway in North Korea. So far there is no indication at all that these rumors are true. The rumors originated on China’s twitter-like platform Weibo (fyi: here’s the fascinating Google translated page of original Weibo posts), and quickly got picked up by Gawker.com and retweeted in the U.S.

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As the story goes, a couple assassins barged into Kim’s room in Beijing and shot him, before being shot and killed themselves by bodyguards. Twitter user @ChristianJMay posted that the rumor is “based on news that a host of blacked out cars have descended upon embassy in Beijing, where he was visiting.” Nevermind that as far as anyone can tell, Kim wasn’t even in Beijing.

ForbesHuffington PostYahoo! News

UPDATE - Kim Jong-un assassination rumours sparked by Beijing embassy birthday party

Kim Jong-il’s 70th birthday is cause for celebration at the North Korean embassy in Beijing, so much so that building is now abuzz with activity for the multi-day festivities.

Now, along with the planned events, embassy staff can now mark worldwide social-media fuelled assassination rumours down as one of the many tributes for the late Dear Leader.

National Post