If you've done much Web surfing today you've probably come across a headline such as this one from NBC News: "Kim Jong Un's executed uncle was eaten alive by 120 hungry dogs: report." We'll get to the reasons to be suspicious in a bit.

Jang Song Taek, the brother-in-law of late Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il, the uncle of current leader Kim Jong Un, and an urbane politician who was thought to have been the second most powerful man in North Korea, has been reportedly executed for planning a coup. Jang "is a traitor to the nation for all ages," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the country's main news agency, which released the news on the morning of Friday Dec. 13 Korea time.