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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 fueled assassination rumours down as one of the many tributes for the late Dear Leader.

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Rumours that Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s newly anointed supreme leader, had been assassinated originated on Chinese microblogging service Weibo Friday, and spread swiftly on Twitter.

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It all seems to trace back to a message from Weibo user Hucaihe, who quipped that there was an ever-growing number of cars at the North Korean embassy. “It’s the first time I’ve seen this situation, did something happen in Korea?”

The hint of trouble in the hermit kingdom was enough to get the attention of fellow Weibo users; that message has since been forwarded more than 12,000 times, which is only the tip of the iceberg.