KCNA / Reuters North Korean soldiers with military dogs take part in drills in an unknown location, on April 6, 2013. 
 
 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, which 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. 
 
 (MORE: Kim Jong Un’s Uncle Was ‘Despicable Human Scum,’ Says Pyongyang’s Propaganda Machine) 
 
 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. 
 
 (MORE: Rodman’s North Korea Visit Won’t Hide Kim Jong Un’s Insecurities) 
 
 First, there is the reporting itself. North Korea’s stubborn isolation makes it nearly impossible for reporters to independently verify this type of claim. Very few foreign reporters have access to the country and those who do, like the Associated Press, are kept on a tight leash. It is striking that Wen Wei Po was the only Chinese media outlet with the story. China’s powers of information control are not perfect, but the arms of its propaganda machine tend to wave in synch. 
 
 Plus, the account does not fit with other reporting on Jang’s ouster. Around the same time the Straits Times ran with the Wen Wei Po piece, the New York Times, citing South Korean intelligence, reported that some of Jang’s associates were executed using antiaircraft guns while Jang himself was killed “by more traditional means.” 
 
 The method, in the end, may not matter so much. Nobody would argue in favor of death by dog, death by mortar fire, or, really, any other type of execution under Kim family’s grim authoritarian rule. But the focus on palace politics, rumors and intrigue seems to be calling attention away from what we do know is taking place. 
 
 Just last month, Amnesty International released new satellite images of a notorious North Korean prison camp that shows new housing blocks. A former guard told the agency of ongoing forced labor, the imprisonment of children, and of people being forced to dig their own graves. If you are still hungry for horror, give it a read. 
 
 (MORE: Watch How North Korea Confirmed the Execution of Kim Jong Un’s Uncle) ||||| Unless they did 
 
 When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the execution last month of his uncle Jang Song-thaek on charges of treason, the rest of the world was sickened with syrupy indignation. When an unsourced report bubbled out of the Chinese press today that Kim had actually fed the man to ravenous dogs, it gave us media folk apoplectic seizures of unsubstantiated headline joy. 
 
 Share This: Kim Jong-un (right) with his now-dead uncle Jang Song-thaek. (Kyodo/Reuters) 
 
 Jang and five or so of his aides were thought to have been killed by firing squad. But now the Chinese newspaper Wen Wei Po is reporting that Jang and his allies were actually stripped naked, caged, and then devoured by a pack of 120 dogs starved for three days. The report has been picked up by international news organizations determined to revel in the poetic brutality of the faraway scenario. 
 
 North Korean experts and animal rights groups tell Vocativ there is no confirmation that Jang was mauled to death by dogs or that the practice, called quan jue, is actually utilized in the country. But they also admit there might be little that is off-limits in Pyongyang’s secretive regime. 
 
 “Getting fed to dogs sounds like an exaggerated rumor, but anything is possible,” says Charles Armstrong, PhD, a North Korea expert and professor of history at Columbia University. 
 
 The report in Chinese media, whether real or fabricated, would fit the image that Kim Jong-un, who replaced his father as supreme leader two years ago, is hoping to portray, says Jeremi Suri, PhD, a history professor at the University of Texas, Austin, who has written extensively on North Korea. 
 
 Share This: North Korean military dogs devour a dummy with South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin's face attached. (KCNA/Reuters) 
 
 Death by dogs is “certainly believable based on the fact that this is a regime that has prided itself on doing things that are outlandish and shocking,” Suri says. “The modus operandi is to be shocking, and to use the shock value to get attention and to get what they want.” 
 
 Suri says appearing crazy is actually a rational decision made by Kim to secure the attention and aid of the international community. 
 
 “If people say, ‘Look at this behavior—look at how crazy he is,’ he becomes a person to be dealt with. It’s an extortionist policy,” he says. “It’s a policy that has worked for other rogue leaders, most specifically it worked for his father. It’s an old game in North Korea.” 
 
 The animal rights group PETA says it had never heard of the practice of quan jue. 
 
 “PETA has not heard of anything like this happening before, and recent reports regarding the method of execution have not been confirmed,” spokesman Jordan Uhl says. 
 
 The Chinese media report comes nearly a month after the executions, and the details, including the number of dogs and the days they were starved, makes it even less plausible, experts say. 
 
 But either way, the tale serves the North Korean leader. 
 
 “The thing to recognize is that these are irrational acts that are rational in their design,” Sury says. “He wants to stay in power, so it’s not crazy at all. He’s promoting the image of crazy to scare people.”
– What's a fitting way to execute a man labeled "worse than a dog"? If an unconfirmed newspaper report is to be believed, by stripping him naked, throwing him in a cage, and feeding him alive to 120 hungry hounds. NBC News picks up Hong Kong-based paper Wen Wei Po's account of how Kim Jong Un did away with his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, last month. Its report claims Jang and his five closest aides were set upon by a pack of hunting dogs that hadn't eaten in days as Kim and his brother, flanked by 300 officials, watched; the report hasn't been verified. Wen Wei Po, which has close ties to China's Communist Party, added Jang and his allies were "completely eaten up" in the "quan jue," or execution by dogs—a break from the usual execution by firing squad—over the course of an hour, the Straits Times notes. Though Kim has championed the execution, there's been no official word from Pyongyang on how it was carried out. The Times sees the publication of the account as an indication that Beijing is none too pleased with North Korea in the wake of the execution and "no longer cares about its relations with the Kim regime." This follows a previous report that claimed that two of Jang's top men who were killed prior to his own death were executed using antiaircraft machine guns.