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Is it true? Or did social media just prematurely kill off the leader of North Korea?

Kim Jong-un was killed by an assassin at the North Korean embassy in Beijing, China, at least according to one of many varying reports on the Supreme Leader to hit the web on Friday.

News of Kim’s death exploded onto Weibo, a hugely popular Chinese micro-blogging platform, and although the news was not confirmed elsewhere, the story gained traction among users and curious media outlets.

Others are reporting that Jong-un may be on the run rather than dead, but that some kind of coup is taking place. The rumours remain unsubstantiated, and as Adrian Chen at Gawker wrote, these types of reports crop up often given the furtive nature of North Korea’s government.

However, the reports are beginning to gather steam, especially now that a couple of American news outlets have reported on the rumors.

Twitter death rumors are not uncommon. While they have focused primarily on aging stars, politicians such as Fidel Castro have become the targets of the trending attacks in recent months. Other celebrities who have “died” in recently include Nelson Mandela, Denzel Washington, Ruby Dee, Bill Cosby, Aretha Franklin and Morgan Freeman.

Official Internet Rule: Any (Chinese) Twitter post that begins with “according to reliable sources” is almost certainly fake. Still, many Chinese netizens are taking the claim seriously… This is the report from Tianya.net, one of China’s largest Internet forums.

They also posted blurry pictures purporting to show an unusual number of vehicles parked at the North Korean embassy. ChinaSMACK staff writer Joe Xu suggests reports of large number of cars at the embassy may have sparked the rumor. “Rumors like this pop up every other week,” he writes on Twitter.

Is he dead? Who knows, if so…it couldn’t have happened to a better guy.