Stripped naked, thrown into a cage and torn apart by 120 starving dogs: How Kim Jong Un had 'scum' uncle executed

A pack of 120 starving dogs were set on Jang Song Thaek and five aides

Kim Jong-Un and 300 officials watched horrific execution



Punishment, called 'quan jue', or execution by dogs, lasted an hour

Uncle was accused of treachery and corruption by the brutal regime

Kim has carried out a 'massive purge' of threats to consolidate his grip



North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un executed his uncle by having him stripped naked and eaten alive by starving dogs while he watched, a report claimed yesterday.

Jang Song-Thaek was said to have been thrown into a cage with his five closest aides, after which 120 hounds which had been starved for three days were released, eating the men until there was nothing left.

The horrifying details emerged in a report in Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper, which said the gruesome act was known as ‘quan jue’, or ‘execution by dogs’.

Brutal: Jang Song-Thaek, in blue suit and handcuffs being escorted in court on December 12, was executed by wild dogs, according to reports coming from China

In previous executions, political prisoners were killed by firing squads with machine guns, although one aide was tied to a post and a mortar round was fired at him.

The report said the ‘quan jue’ lasted an hour, and Kim was said to have watched the stomach-churning ‘show’ along with 300 senior officials.

Analysts said the tyrant had probably invited the officials to the death ceremony as a warning that they should not step out of line and remain faithful not only to him but also to the Stalinist regime.



Kim had described his 67-year-old uncle – who was married to his father’s sister – as a traitor, a womaniser and a ‘despicable human scum – worse than a dog’.



It was previously thought he had been executed by firing squad.

Family: Kim Jong-Un (right) applauds at a show as his uncle, Jang Song-Thaek (left), looks on

Vicious: Dictator Kim Jong-Un, pictured, shocked the world when he accused his 'scum' uncle of treachery and had him executed

Frenzied: Jang Song Thaek was fed to a pack of 120 dogs which had been starved for three days, it was claimed. (Stock picture)

The Singapore paper was quoting China’s official newspaper, Wen Wei Po, which was published in Hong Kong on December 12, although details emerged only yesterday.

The savage death of Kim’s uncle sent shockwaves through the authoritarian state, showing no one was safe – even family members.



Kim’s 19-year-old nephew fled his university campus in Paris after the execution and has gone into hiding.

North Korean justice: The tribunal in the capital Pyongyang which apparently ordered Jang Song Thaek's death

Family: Shown with his powerful nephew during a military parade in February last year, Jang Song Thaek (left) was once the second most powerful man in North Korea. Some say he was seen as a threat

The tyrant’s ruthless streak was documented last year when it was claimed he had a former lover executed because she appeared in a porn film. South Korean newspapers said singer Hyon Song-wol and 11 others were arrested in August for violating North Korea’s laws against pornography and were executed, possibly by firing squad, three days later. The condemned, all members of the performing groups Unhasu Orchestra and Wangjaesan Light Music Band, were accused of making videos of themselves having sex and selling the videos for distribution in China. Other band members as well as the families of the victims were made to watch the mass execution.

Revelations: Kim Jong-un used his New Year's speech to defend the recent execution for treason of Jang Song-thaek, Kim's uncle and North Korean second most powerful man of the past decades

Authoritarian: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (seventh from the right) visits the mausoleum of his father Kim Jong-il, late North Korean leader, at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang on New Year's Day

The Straits Times said the report of the ‘quan jue’ vividly depicted the brutality of the young North Korean leader and the fact that it appeared in a Beijing-controlled newspaper showed that China no longer cared about its relations with the Kim regime.

Two days after the initial newspaper report, The Global Times, which is associated with the People’s Daily, a Chinese Communist Party outlet, published an editorial saying that the abrupt political change in North Korea epitomised the backwardness of the country’s political system. And it warned its own government not to cosy up to North Korea any longer, claiming that the majority of the Chinese people were ‘disgusted’ with the Kim regime.

Writing in the Straits Times, analyst Ching Cheong said the story, along with the stern editorial, provided a measure of the extent of Beijing’s loathing.

‘In purging a top official known for his close ties with Beijing in such a brutal manner, Pyongyang (the North Korean capital) did not hide its antagonism towards China,’ he wrote.