Kim Jong Un ordered to have his uncle and rival, Jang Song Thaek, eaten alive by starving dogs, according to details of a report that have recently surfaced in English.

North Korea confirmed last month that Jang was executed for an attempt to overthrow the government. Then news started trickling out that the young dictator had been locking horns with his uncle and the country's de facto number two over business deals. Later reports said Kim asked two of Jang's allies to hand over control of profitable businesses to the military and when they refused to do so immediately on the grounds they had to consult Jang first, Kim had them killed.

Then Beijing-backed newspaper in Hong Kong, Wenweipo, published a thinly-sourced report saying Jang had actually thrown his uncle to the dogs. And not just a few. The uncle and five members of his inner circle were rounded up, stripped naked, then thrown into a cage with 120 dogs that had been starved for three days.

Kim waited around until there was nothing left of the men, which took about an hour, and he supervised the grisly ordeal in the presence of 300 officials. (Brutal fear tactics, a little?)

Now, since this is North Korea, absolutely nothing has been verified one way or the other, apart from the fact that Uncle Jang is with us no more.

What makes things even blurrier is that the newspaper that published the details from the Wenweipo report in English is The Straits Times, a Singaporean newspaper, which has a staunchly anti-Communist editorial line. (Which is fishy because they normally wouldn't have much to do with a red rag like Wenweipo.)

Some experts suspect that the Chinese actually released the story to the press as a way of letting Kim know that they're not happy with Jang's execution, relevant as he was their link to North Korean clams, crab and coal.

Other folks think it's just the international press lapping up every disturbing detail published about the closed-off country because, you know, it gets clicks.