UPDATE: North Korea Wins! Justin Bieber to Pyongyang?

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GREG LOCKE/Reuters/Corbis

With an astounding 659,141 votes North Korea claims the top prize: Justin Bieber will take his My World Tour to the secretive, Communist-led nation. Or will he?

While Bieber had supposedly left the fate of his first headline tour in the hands of his fans, allowing them to vote online for the countries he should visit, it turns out the poll was a sham. At least that’s what his record label Universal Music Group (UMG) told BBC. “A spokesperson for UMG told BBC News that it was a ‘hoax’ but declined to give further comment,” the BBC says.

While it became clear early on that the poll had been hit by a 4chan prank, causing North Korea to shoot to first place in record time, the poll went viral and tens of thousands of people cast votes for the country of their choice, without anyone catching on.

It’s really too bad, because if the poll were true (and Bieber followed its directions) he would have embarked on the most ridiculously awesome world tour, ever. After North Korea, Netizens said the tween sensation should visit Israel, Poland, Turkey, Colombia and Venezuela before eventually making his way to Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Serbia and, at #44, Iraq.

(See where Bieber stacks up against Facebook’s most popular celebrities)