The international report that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had his uncle executed by feeding him to a pack of dogs may be based on a satire after all, according to MSN News.
The news of the North Korean leader's uncle Jang Song Thaek being fed to dogs appears to be satirical and came from a Chinese microblogging website.
The story was taken up by Wen Wei Po, an independent Hong Kong newspaper, but is known to be pro-Beijing. The news spread like wildfire on cyberspace although its veracity could not be verified.
Speculations abound about Jang's execution. Initial reports said that Jang and his five aids were executed by firing squad - a fate that, according to media establishments said, was reserved for traitors.
However, Jang's supposed satirical execution appeared on December 11, 2013 on the Chinese Tencent Weibo site has been viewed 290,000 times, and has been carried over by various media outlets worldwide. The viral news of Jang's death created a much more brutal image of the young Kim, which made him even more unpredictable.
The news of North Korea executing its No. 2 top political leader took place December of last year, but the Hermit Kingdom did not release details of how Jang was executed.
Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po released the article using Weibo as its source with an accompanying screenshot of the microblogging site to justify its story of Jang being fed to the dogs.
Straits Times, a Singaporean-based newspaper picked up the story 12 days later and then by a number of U.S. and European media outlets, both print and television.
Kim Jong Un, believed to be around 30 years old, has been in power for two years and presided over a nuclear test and two rocket test launches that are banned under United Nations sanctions.
Pyongyang threatened to strike South Korea in 2013 that triggered an arms buildup in East Asia to which the U.S. and Japan responded.
