Seriously This Time: Kim Jong Un Wins Time’s ‘Person of The Year’ Readers’ Choice Award

In a world gone mad, it only makes sense that North Korean dictator would be elected by Time magazine readers as 2012’s ‘Person of the Year.’

While earlier this month “Lil’ Kim” was humorously portrayed by satirical web site The Onion as The Sexiest Man Alive, a story that was eventually picked up by a leading Chinese state newspaper and disseminated to its tens of millions of readers as a serious award, it’s mind boggling that the heir to the North Korean dictatorial throne has been awarded this latest honor by millions of online Time readers.

Kim Jong Un is Time’s 2012 Person of the Year. That is, according to the magazine’s online readers, who chose the North Korean leader over the likes of President Barack Obama, Olympic gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart in an online vote.

It doesn’t mean Kim will be named Time’s official Person of the Year when the choice is revealed on the “Today” show on Dec. 19—that honor is decided by the editors. It just means the son of the late Kim Jong Il received 5.6 million votes in Time’s admittedly “completely unscientific” reader poll.

“While we don’t make our selection based on the poll results,” Time executive editor Radhika Jones noted in the blog post that announced the winners, “it’s always interesting to see where some of our preferred candidates end up.”

Interesting, indeed.