UPDATED: Report: Kim Jong Un's Uncle Was Eaten Alive By Hungry Dogs

[DonViejo]

Last edited Fri Jan 3, 2014, 01:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: TPM

TOM KLUDT – JANUARY 3, 2014, 9:04 AM EST

Kim Jong Un's uncle was reportedly given one of the most brutal death sentences imaginable last month.

According to NBC News, which cited a report in a Chinese newspaper, Jang Song Thaek and five of his closest aides were stripped of their clothes, tossed in a cage and eaten alive by a pack of 120 hungry dogs. The dogs had reportedly been starved for five days.

Jang was considered to be the young North Korean leader's second-in-command.

The details of the execution were published in a newspaper that serves as an organ of China's Communist Party, but NBC could not independently confirm the report.

More at link

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kim-jong-un-uncle-dogs

---

UPDATE:

Something Weird Happened in North Korea: Report

By Joshua Keating

You can do a lot in journalism with the word “report.” For instance, see NBC’s “Kim Jong Un’s executed uncle was eaten alive by 120 hungry dogs: report”.

Did this really happen? We don’t know! Experts seem skeptical. It first appeared in English in the Singapore-based Straits Times, which cited a three-week-old story in the pro-Beijing Hong Kong paper Wen Wei Po, which was itself pretty thinly sourced. Perhaps not quite grasping how the viral Internet works, the Straits Times reporter chose to lead with how the execution would “adversely affect bilateral relations” between North Korea and China rather than the naked man being eaten alive by ravenous dogs.

For what it's worth, a New York Times report from last month cited “South Korean intelligence officials and news media” reported that Jang Song-thaek’s aides were executed by anti-aircraft machine gun but that he himself was killed by “more traditional means.”

But we don’t know for sure that it didn’t happen. There have been other reports of exotic execution methods used against North Korean senior officials. Brutal torture is certainly common in the North Korean penal system.

:::snip:::

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/01/03/kim_jong_un_uncle_reported_eaten_by_dogs_why_you_should_be_skeptical_of.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=2245ea6705&mc_eid=7a8b58c8c3

[Common Sense Party]

1. Why wouldn't the pack of starving dogs be eating each other?

Just wondering.

If this is true...(shudder)...NK is beyond repair.

[angstlessk]

58. That was my very first thought as well...

of course it may have started with 250 hungry dogs???

I agree...to be this brutal, you WOULD have to be insane...

[Zorro]

2. That's a change of pace

I thought he preferred having those convicted sit on a pile of dynamite.

[treestar]

3. Ick! Though how would the Chinese newspaper have that information?

Could be rumor.

[firsttimer]

4. So they starved 120 dogs

I bet the they shot them after.

Fucking cesspool country

[philosslayer]

46. Its not a cesspool country

Its got deranged leadership. The people who live there are helpless victims.

[gopiscrap]

53. agreed

[tblue]

57. I had to look hard to find memoirs

written by a defector. That there says something about how repressive the dictator is there. What I read was just so sad and made no sense. That poor country badly needs a revolution. It's just a nightmare.

[greiner3]

47. Dog meat;

Is considered a delicacy in Korea, much less the amount of food shortage in t he country.

Just saying.

[Scairp]

56. Pigs would have been more efficient

Surely this nutty country has pig farms. Hasn't anyone ever heard the saying "never trust a person who owns a pig farm"? Not making fun, and this may or may not be true, considering the horrible things that have happened to the citizens of this country that are true, it sounds plausible. Something must be done to save those people. I'm not sure what but this little shit is entirely out of hand.

[penultimate]

63. You wouldn't say that if you lived in Baltimore.

[marble falls]

5. Something from a rejected Austin Powers movie plotline.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. I heard it was sharks /nt

[truebrit71]

29. With frickin' laserbeams on their frickin' heads...

BTW I call bullshit on this story. Totally unverified, and far too creative for this arrogant little fucktard...besides, the soldiers would probably have eaten the dogs themselves if the level of poverty in that country is accurate..

[tomm2thumbs]

37. Actually, they were petting zoo goats... we know how they like to eat everything....

heheheh

[MyNameGoesHere]

7. I find it hard to believe there are 120 dogs

available in North Korea. I mean the people are starving and unlike Americans, well some Americans, there isn't a negative with consuming a dog. Seems like the Asian Onion maybe.

[Marrah_G]

9. Not if they were military dogs

Seriously- people there are so brainwashed that if the Dear Leader told them not to eat chickens and then let loose millions of chickens....the people would starve before eating them. It's a different world there.

[Festivito]

8. Another DU thread. 3 days has gone to 5 days.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024269933

[DonViejo]

13. But a comment in that thread challenges the legitimacy of

the news source:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024269933#post16

[Johnyawl]

22. That's a completely different news source than NBC is quoting...

...NBC story is quoting a "a newspaper with close ties to China's ruling Communist Party."

If anybody is going to have the truth about what's going on in that godforsaken country, it would be the Chinese communists.

[DonViejo]

31. Exactly my point. nt

[James48]

10. Tastes like chicken? n/t

[Johnyawl]

16. The polynesians who practiced ritual cannabalism refered to human flesh as...

..."longpork", giving me reason to believe that we may taste a bit like pig.

[loudsue]

24. Probably republicans taste like pig, and democrats taste like chicken.

Just my guess.

[DeSwiss]

55. Yow....

...that's gonna leave a mark!

[loudsue]

68. Nah. It's self-evident. n/t

[onehandle]

11. Earlier I suggested that payday lenders 'be relieved of their assets, stripped naked, and deported.'

Korea has given me a better idea.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014687463

[SummerSnow]

12. Sure Dennis Rodman would approve

[Shrike47]

79. I wanna give DR the benefit of the doubt.

If he can bring any sort of decent, normal behavior to North Korea, he's got my support.

[SummerSnow]

80. You know, youre right.

I give him the benefit of the doubt. He might be the key to some kind if change there.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

14. I'm sure they had a fair trial first...

[NBachers]

15. My Chinese friends here in San Francisco have been telling me this story

I'll give them credibility; they're plugged into closer news sources than I am. But, still, I wonder . . .

[Steviehh]

17. BS

from propaganda tool somewhere in Asia.

[jmowreader]

18. This dictator seems to be the most evil one the DPRK has ever had to put up with

Maybe the world.

Let me see...he executed his own girlfriend, forced people in 10 different cities to watch 80 citizens be machine-gunned for watching South Korean soap operas, and now this? This bastard is looking more like Stalin every day.

[warrant46]

25. Not even Stalin was that ugly

[jmowreader]

43. Stalin definitely had his moments

The thing that makes Kim, Jong-un so very hideous is that he's only 30 years old. Kim, Il-sung died when he was 82, so unless someone shoots Kim, Jong-un before then the North Korean people will have to put up with him 52 more years. And by then he'll be a hundred times more evil.

[warrant46]

45. There are lots of cruel people in the world

The amerikan people love water boarding of Muslins by the CIA sponsored by War Criminal Cheney

However when the shoe is on the other foot they get outraged when someone tortures amerikans

The Japanese treatment of POWs in WW2 was worse than anything the Vietnamese did to Mclame

The links are out there

[FarPoint]

19. Sounds like a scene straight out of HBO

Deadwood series... Feed dead losers to Whu's hogs.

[Swede Atlanta]

20. While I am a bit suspect on the accuracy of this story....

these days nothing would surprise me. Look at the recent cruelty of the Japanese and Germans during WWII, the Vietnamese during the Vietnam war, the ruthless treatment by Pinochet, Marcos, the Shah of Iran, etc. as well as our own government's treatment of veterans.

Humans have an incredible capacity for cruelty. I think Kim Jong Un's narcissistic streak is not unlike that of say Saddam Hussein. They envision themselves as gods, saviors for their nations. They will stop at nothing to terrorize their own people into submission.

Trust me, anyone in the North Korean leadership that was even thinking about how great it would be if KJU was to be found dead, are not disclosing that feeling to anyone, even a spouse.

This is how dictatorships work. And we are seeing signs of it here. The unbridled collection of information, spying by local police forces on people, etc. are creating an atmosphere of suspicion. As the NSA and the secret government continue to pursue these policies the paranoia among average Americans will continue to grow.

[Johnyawl]

23. Good point

It doesn't matter if the story is true or not, all that matters is that the North Korean leadership believe it's true.

[RKP5637]

76. +1, n/t

[Kablooie]

21. So the report that the execution was by Chuckie dolls was false?

[sulphurdunn]

26. Getting rid of competing relatives

is all in a day's work for feudal dynasties during successions.

[get the red out]

27. Kim Jong Un is depraved

There is no way around it.

[LiberalElite]

28. Was he inspired by the mafia -

who had a guy eaten by wild pigs? I thought Dear uncle was machinegunned to death?

[Botany]

30. KJU is an evil bastard but .....

[father founding]

32. Hungry Dogs

Were the dogs hungry again an hour later, Sorry, couldn't resist.

[mn9driver]

33. The Romans thought of it first.

Public execution in 1st century Rome was often used as entertainment. Being eaten by wild animals was not the worst thing they came up with.

[Drew2510]

39. If I remember right they

fed the lions a diet composed of human flesh and then starved them for a few days before the "performance."

[NYC Liberal]

61. Scaphism

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaphism

The intended victim was stripped naked and then firmly fastened within the interior space of two narrow rowing boats (or hollowed-out tree trunks) joined together one on top of the other with the head, hands and feet protruding. The condemned was forced to ingest milk and honey to the point of developing a severe bowel movement and diarrhea, and more honey would be rubbed on his exposed appendages to attract insects. He would then be left to float on a stagnant pond or be exposed to the sun.

The defenseless individual's feces accumulated within the container, attracting more insects which would eat and breed within his exposed flesh, which—pursuant to interruption of the blood supply by burrowing insects—became increasingly gangrenous. The feeding would be repeated each day in some cases to prolong the torture, so that fatal dehydration or starvation did not occur.

Death, when it eventually occurred, was probably due to a combination of dehydration, starvation and septic shock. Delirium would typically set in after a few days.

[RKP5637]

77. There is a very thin line between civilization and barbarianism. n/t

[LeftyMom]

62. A lot of wealthy Romans kept pools full of eels.

They were dual purpose fresh fish supply and, it was widely rumored, convenient body disposal. At the very least they were a great threat to use on servants to keep them in line.

[woo me with science]

34. We are better than North Korea!

Our corporate media makes sure we know it!

Strip searches? Mass surveillance? We should be GRATEFUL!!!!11!!!

Someday, I'd like to see a stream of stories from Norway, Sweden, New Zealand....

Wouldn't it be nice to compare ourselves, once in a while, with the countries we SHOULD be comparing ourselves to?

[RKP5637]

78. +++ 1,000 +++ n/t

[davidthegnome]

35. Ugly way to die.

Still... 120 dogs? You don't need that many to eat five naked men. Must have been a big damn cage, too. This strikes me as a little too out there to be true, but, maybe it is. I guess I just picture the size of a cage that could hold 120 starving dogs, the people who had to handle those dogs (and not get killed/eaten), why they would starve so many dogs for the sake of killing a few men when there are many simpler methods, some that are just as horrific.

I think we can safely say that the man is dead. But, eaten by 120 starving dogs? Somehow, I doubt it.

[former9thward]

59. Why would you need one cage?

It is beyond belief they had 120 cages or 60 cages? I man handling each dog will not get attacked.

[davidthegnome]

69. So for the sake of killing five men...

They had 120 cages, or 60 cages, in which they kept starving dogs? Then one man to handle each dog? It just strikes me as way too elaborate. There are all kinds of vicious ways they could have accomplished their intent without a tenth of the effort. Generally speaking, human beings prefer to simplify things.

Or, perhaps they did. Some times people do really crazy shit. Yet this just strikes me as way too much. It is not that I doubt the capacity for cruelty or wickedness, more that I doubt even their dear leader has quite the fanatical dedication, utter devotion, to hating these men enough to go through all this effort to give them such a death. A far more likely scenario is that they had attack dogs kill them, or shot them dead, or a combination of the two. You need not starve a dog to teach it to kill.

[BlueToTheBone]

70. He's bored.

There's not much governing going on there and each of those acts of barbarity bring on lust for more. But it does seem quite crazy indeed.

[Jack Rabbit]

36. Ivan the Terrible did that to a boyar in sixteenth century Russia

Ivan the Terrible was known to be a very disturbed man.

[Brigid]

64. Another interesting factoid:

Exhumation of Ivan's body revealed mercury poisoning. He used it treat his syphilis. That certainly didn't help.

[Jack Rabbit]

65. Yes, but Ivan was only 13 when he fed Prince Shuysky fed to the dogs

The poor lad had a rough childhood. When he was eight, boyars poisoned his mother. Ranking nobles and clergymen were murdered before his eyes. His own life was never really safe.

That might have thrown him a little off the mark.

[Brigid]

66. No, his upbringing was not exactly conducive . . .

To good mental health.

[pampango]

38. Rule by terror. It's how dictators do their thing. n/t

[TwilightGardener]

40. Kim Jong Un was quoted as comparing his uncle to a dog. But healthy skepticism

is still in order here. The interesting thing is that it was reported in China first.

[El Supremo]

41. Odin! >>

[LiberalElite]

42. FWIW - Time.com says "probably not"

http://world.time.com/2014/01/03/a-dog-of-a-story-why-kim-jong-un-probably-did-not-feed-his-uncle-to-120-hounds/

Kim Jong Un’s late uncle was “worse than a dog,” according to the blustery state media account of his purge. But was he killed by a pack of half-starved dogs?

That’s the claim of Beijing-linked Hong Kong newspaper, Wen Wei Po, who on Dec. 12 reported that the instead of being executed by a firing squad, as is typical, Jang was stripped naked, thrown in a cage with five of his associates, and devoured by 120 hounds as Kim Jong Un and 300 officials watched. The dogs preyed on the prisoners “until they were completely eaten up,” according to the Straits Times, a Singaporean newspaper, who picked up the story on Dec. 24.

The version of events jibes well with media accounts that portray Kim Jong Un as a Dr. Evil-esque figure, a clownish, brutal young despot that finds amusement in wielding his terrible power. It also seems to fit the blustery language of North Korean state media which so memorably denounced Jang as a “despicable political careerist and trickster” guilty of “thrice-cursed acts of treachery.”

It feels possible that such an over-the-top crime would warrant an over-the-top punishment. But there is reason to be skeptical.

Read more: North Korea: Did Kim Jong Un Feed His Uncle to the Dogs? | TIME.com http://world.time.com/2014/01/03/a-dog-of-a-story-why-kim-jong-un-probably-did-not-feed-his-uncle-to-120-hounds/#ixzz2pMHTQsHm

[killbotfactory]

44. Extrodinary claim from a single sketchy source. I call BS. nt

[closeupready]

49. +1. Probably the same 'Iraq baby-incubator rapists!' source,

beating the drums for war/'sometimes, money trumps peace!'/'The invasion of Kuwait is all about jobs, jobs, jobs'/ etc.

[AngryOldDem]

50. As do I.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-25597324

<<The Straits Times is a respectable and widely read publication, but it's often been accused of being the mouthpiece of Singapore's ruling party and is staunchly anti-communist - so political bias is possible. Finally, we can't dismiss the possibility that China itself has fabricated or at least encouraged the story to send a message to Pyongyang. Kim's uncle was the architect of closer economic ties between the China and North Korea and there is thought to be a lot of anger about his death.>>

[LiberalLovinLug]

48. I have little sympathy

Can you imagine all the poor souls that died horribly by orders of this man? Anyone who lasted that long and rose that high in that cruel system must have a black black soul himself, and has done unspeakable crimes against humanity himself during his lifetime.

[ronnie624]

74. I wonder who is responsible for more death and misery,

the current N. Korean dynasty or the Bush family.

Hmmm.

[jberryhill]

51. That might explain why dogs align with north when they poop.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/02/dogs-poop-along-north-south-magnetic-field_n_4532198.html

[ConcernedCanuk]

52. LBN MY BUTT - This is just frikken hearsay and gossip

.
.
.

NBC reporting from a Singapore source to a Hong Kong paper to a Chinese paper to US blogs etc., etc.

Here the MSM go again - creating hatred that fuels the "righteousness" of the MIC et al for another war/invasion/slaughter.

Saddam was bad, but the region was more stable when he was in power - AND THERE WAS NO AL QAEDA in Iraq when Saddam was in power. (and no nukes)

USA forced a war/invasion/slaughter - "liberating" them from Saddam, "giving" them democracy -

that's working well . . .

NK ain't no pearl either, but it's contained.

Leave it the fuck alone.

Or help NK out in REAL ways - try to give it a reason to trust the rest of the World, especially the USA and it's minions.

NK sees what USA does to countries that can't defend itself and is very fortunate that they don't have any notable oil/gas reserves.

If NK had oil, and Iraq didn't, where do ya think the PNAC gang woulda engaged in 2003?

CC

[ronnie624]

71. Excellent post.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

54. True of not he's willing to kill family and has his finger on a nuke...

and, more importantly, the country is desperate. I fear for people throughout that entire region.

[Alamuti Lotus]

60. Silly unfounded sensationalism that masks a valid and (possibility important) message

These "reports" are getting more and more ridiculous. What is true is that Jang represented close economic ties between the DPRK and China (a development which is much more recent than typically assumed to be), and his fall from power represents the possibility of a long-term strategic shift away from this fragile alliance. His removal can be interpreted as a message to ROK/Japan/US--which is beyond the normal hysteria, which is curious on its own--, and it should be interesting to see what else may follow along this line.

[daleo]

67. The idea of terrorizing prisoners with dogs isn't far fetched

Anyone remember Abu Ghraib?

[ronnie624]

73. But we know with certainty that the Abu Ghraib reports are true. n/t

[SoapBox]

72. Sick!

...savages with zero value of life.

[Ash_F]

75. 90% sure it would have been a firing squad or hanging

But whatever gets clicks I guess.

Executing people for "treason" is horrendous anyway.

[TheKentuckian]

81. Who knows? We do know death sentences came down for very depraved and petty reasons.

The "how" is trying to fathom how damn deep the lake of depravity is, I tend to think it only matters so much, it is all well over the tallest head.