Kim Jong Un's executed uncle was eaten alive by 120 hungry dogs: report (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTG9RABTAXF5m1Cjd17-P8UYZMO91G4OcqoU7CZWDPN81sSVgzvV_7aJj7VwL46k5DIR4uf6ZH2VfRt9WtDsgVHcrHBmynui4JdcpDRpjU8HKfN79mYwv0VqZTnioqJOUMxerxiiw8gcs/s1600/140103-nk-uncle-court-3a.photoblog600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTG9RABTAXF5m1Cjd17-P8UYZMO91G4OcqoU7CZWDPN81sSVgzvV_7aJj7VwL46k5DIR4uf6ZH2VfRt9WtDsgVHcrHBmynui4JdcpDRpjU8HKfN79mYwv0VqZTnioqJOUMxerxiiw8gcs/s320/140103-nk-uncle-court-3a.photoblog600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="byline" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 25.59375px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Eric Baculinao and Alexander Smith, NBC News</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BEIJING -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle was stripped naked, thrown into a cage, and eaten alive by a pack of ravenous dogs, according to a newspaper with close ties to China's ruling Communist Party.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jang Song Thaek, who had been considered Kim's second-in-command, was <a href="http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21880254-a-very-worrisome-sign-north-korea-executes-uncle-of-leader-kim-jong-un?lite" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #336699; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">executed last month</a> after being found guilty of "attempting to overthrow the state," <a href="http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21880254-a-very-worrisome-sign-north-korea-executes-uncle-of-leader-kim-jong-un?lite" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #336699; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">North Korea’s state-run news agency reported</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The official North Korean account on Dec. 12 did not specify how Jang was put to death.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">U.S. officials told NBC News on Friday that they could not confirm the reports. "This is not ringing any bells here," said one senior official. </div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po reported that Jang and his five closest aides were set upon by 120 hunting hounds which had been starved for five days. </div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kim and his brother Kim Jong Chol supervised the one-hour ordeal along with 300 other officials, according to Wen Wei Po. The newspaper added that Jang and other aides were "completely eaten up."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The newspaper has acted as a mouthpiece for China's Communist Party. The report may be a sign of the struggle between those in the party who want to remain engaged with North Korea and those who would like to distance themselves from Kim's regime.</div><div class="inlinePhoto photo_landscape photo_align_right slideshow" data-contentid="22157271" id="vine-inlinePhoto__22157271" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; float: right; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0px 25px 10px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 15px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 380px;"><a class="slideshow_link" href="http://nbcnews.com/id/50785689/displaymode/1247?beginSlide=1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #336699; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="285" id="http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-130212-kim-jong-un/ss-130213-kim-jong-un-tease.jpg" src="http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-130212-kim-jong-un/ss-130213-kim-jong-un-tease.380;380;7;70;0.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="380" /></a><div class="photo_credit_container" style="border: 0px; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px 7px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"><div style="border: 0px; color: #525252; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.</div></div><div class="slideshow_callout" style="border: 0px; clear: both; display: inline-block; float: none; height: auto; margin: 5px 7px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"><div style="border: 0px; color: #525252; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div></div><div class="clear" style="border: 0px; clear: both; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jang was seen by many experts as a regent behind North Korea's Kim dynasty and a key connection between the hermit nation and its ally China.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the highly scripted execution, North Korea accused him of "attempting to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kim's government also accused him of of corruption, womanizing, gambling and taking drugs, and referred to him as "despicable human scum."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jang was married to <a href="http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/15/21909377-kim-jong-uns-aunt-appears-safe-after-husbands-execution?lite" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #336699; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Kim's aunt, Kim Kyong Hui</a>, the younger sister of Kim Jong Il.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.59375px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alexander Smith reported from London; NBC News' Robert Windrem contributed to this report.</em></div></div>

Kim Jong Un's executed uncle was eaten alive by 120 hungry dogs: report (BLOG)

By Eric Baculinao and Alexander Smith, NBC News BEIJING -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle was stripped naked, thrown i...

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