Mick Hartley

From the Daily NK:

Several internal sources in North Korea have reported that the head of Ryanggang Province’s Workers' Organizations was accused of "damaging the Highest Dignity's (Kim Jong Un) authority" during the first Conference of the Chairpersons of the Workers' Party Primary Committees held at the end of last year, and was eventually executed. The individual was reportedly dragged before the audience and forced to crawl, under Kim Jong Un's direct orders.

A source in Ryanggang Province reported to Daily NK on January 9 that on the final day of the conference (December 25), the head of Ryanggang Province’s Workers’ Organizations was bound by rope and dragged, before being forced to crawl across the Pyongyang Gymnasium on his knees in front of the watching crowd.

"Kim Jong Un proclaimed that, ‘this person is not entitled to be buried in this land.' Afterward, the head of the Workers' Organization was taken to another location and is said to have been executed by firing squad," the source added.

The position of head of provincial workers' organizations is not normally sufficient to receive an invitation to the Chairpersons of the Party's Primary Committees conference. It can therefore be presumed that the official was arrested beforehand and had been deliberately put on 'display' at the closing ceremony of the conference. The incident appears to have been  intended to foster a sense of fear among the individuals in charge of the Party's low-level organs.

That would work, I imagine. Though the actual offence, as far as we can tell, involved some absurd misunderstanding. Never mind. The authority of the Highest Dignity was tarnished, and that's all that matters.