By Lucy Crossley PUBLISHED: 00:28 EST, 7 January 2014 | UPDATED: 04:33 EST, 7 January 2014 An international media frenzy over reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's uncle was executed by being thrown to a pack of dogs appears to have originated as satire on a Chinese microblogging website. The story, which spread like wildfire after it was picked up by a Hong Kong-based newspaper, has created an image that Pyongyang's young ruler is even more brutal and unpredictable than previously believed. While North Korea has said it purged and executed Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, last month, it did not release details of how the man who was once the second most powerful figure in the isolated country was killed.
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Story had emerged that Jang Song Thaek and five aides were killed by dogs
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Hong Kong newspaper picked up report from satirical microblog post
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Details of how Jang Song was executed have not been released
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Kim Jong Un's uncle was the second most powerful figure in North Korea
Initial speculation was that @placeholder had been killed by firing squad, a fate that media outlets said was the usual one reserved for 'traitors'.