Story That North Korean Dictator Fed Uncle To Dogs Untrue - BBC

This story tells the power of the media worldwide and the implication of spreading unconfirmed stories. The story of how North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un fed his uncle to dogs has been found to be untrue and the handworks of a mischievous and imposting blogger in China.

A BBC reporter, John Sudworth, reporting from BBC in Shanghai, has reported that the recent story about how the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un, executed his Uncle by feeding him to 120 staving dogs may be a fabrication, after all.

According to the BBC, the source of the story was a posting contained in a blog hosted by a certain Choi Seongho who is claiming to be a North Korean newspaper editor studying in China. According to Sudworth, his blog on Tencent, the country’s second most popular microblogging platform, carries satirical comments about life in North Korea. He has 30 thousand followers and he doesn’t reply to direct messages.

There is another Choi Seongho, however, who hosts his blog on Sina, China’s biggest blogging platform. The content is very similar, a mix of seemingly tongue-in-cheek North Korean patriotism and mild satire. But he has more than 2 million followers, was the first of the two to open an account, and although he keeps his identity anonymous, does reply to direct messages.

When the more popular Choi (the one with 2 million followers and whose blog is hosted on Sina) was asked by the BBC if he was the originator of the story he replied that, “The person on Tencent is someone trying to be me, who is not me.”

The “execution by hungry dogs” version was never confirmed by the North Korean regime who had earlier said Kim’s uncle was executed with machine guns.

Sudworth concluded with this warning, “It (North Korea) is certainly a dark and secretive place, but that makes it all the more important that we report the truth, not a sensational parody of it”