There is only one reason that Kim’s heart problems get international attention, Matthew Fisher says. "It is, of course, because North Korea has nuclear weapons."

For people familiar with the way that dictators such as Stalin, Hitler and Mao methodically ousted their opponents, the purging and execution of the No. 2 official in North Korea is nothing new.

North Korea announced Monday it had sacked leader Kim Jong Un's uncle, long considered the country's No. 2 power, saying corruption, drug use, gambling, womanizing and generally leading a "dissolute and depraved life" had caused Pyongyang's highest-profile fall from grace.