I think the initial joke was kind of a filter to only let people who doesn't instantly react and rage about it to continue with the article.

As a Korean who's viewing things from the outside, I found the hook hilarious and totally made me continue reading it...

I appreciated the twist at the end of it.

I suspect overall readership goes up with such intros.

Does it? It made me close the browser tab. Then I came here and read one of the comments that vouched for the rest of the article, and went back.