Story highlights Top official killed for not showing the right attitude at national meeting

Third high profile execution in North Korea since 2013

Seoul (CNN) North Korea has executed its top education official, Kim Yong Jin, by firing squad, a South Korean government official told CNN on Wednesday.

Kim was branded "anti-party and a counter-revolutionary member" by the country's State Security Department, after he exercised a "bad attitude" during North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly in June, the official said.

Kim Yong Jin

South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon Hee confirmed the execution during a press conference early on Wednesday, held to address media reports of a public execution of a senior-level North Korean official.

Two other senior officials were also punished in the past few months, the Unification Ministry said, although they escaped execution.

Read More