Kim Jong Un's uncle executed for being a 'traitor' as North Korean state media describe him as 'worse than a dog'.

Leader's uncle: Jang Song Thaek was described by the country's state media as 'worse than a dog'

The uncle of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was executed yesterday.

Jang Song Thaek, who had been considered the second most powerful official in the country, was killed immediately after a military trial.

He was deemed a traitor and a ‘worse than a dog’ counter-revolutionary who was seeking to overthrow the state, the regime’s news agency KCNA said.

Earlier this week he was expelled from the Workers’ Party of Korea and stripped of all his posts, having been accused of corruption, drug use, gambling, womanising and leading a ‘dissolute and depraved life’.

He was removed from official media and his image airbrushed out of photos with other Korean leaders.

Jang, 67, had been seen as helping Kim Jong Un consolidate power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, two years ago. Jang was called a traitor for trying to seize absolute power, a stunning end for the supreme leader’s former mentor.

The news agency indicated he had seen the change of leadership as an opportunity to challenge his nephew.

Jang had been tried and executed, North Korea claimed, for ‘attempting to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state’.