South Korea should make efforts to improve North Korea's dismal human rights situation even if Seoul's move to have better inter-Korean relations hit a snag, a government official said Monday.

The National Assembly is set to pass a pending bill aimed at enhancing the North's human rights record later this week. The bill, first introduced in August 2005, has been languishing in the parliament, apparently out of concern its passage could have a negative impact on inter-Korean relations.

The bill calls for efforts to improve the North's human rights situation and setting up a center tasked with investigating the North's human rights situation and relevant archives.

"Even if South Korea's efforts to improve inter-Korean ties and bring peace to the peninsula hit a snag, Seoul should separately make efforts to enhance the North's human rights situation," said an official at the Unification Ministry.

Pyongyang has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators in the world. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.

In December last year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution for the second consecutive year that calls for referring the North to the International Criminal Court for human rights violations. (Yonhap)