The foundation to be placed under Seoul's unification ministry will do research on Pyongyang's human rights record and humanitarian assistance and support activities by non-governmental human rights organizations.

An official at the ministry raised the need to launch the foundation as soon as possible to fully implement the law. If the foundation sets sail, the government plans to push for various projects that will help North Koreans become aware of their dismal human rights situation, he said.

"Getting more North Koreans access to outside information and international norms would help improve Pyongyang's rights record," the official added.

"But supporting civic groups that send up anti-Pyongyang leaflets inside balloons will be excluded.... How to get North Koreans access to outside information will be decided after the foundation's board is set up," he said.

Civic group Fighters for a Free North Korea said it is planning to launch leaflets criticizing the North's leader Kim Jong-un for the recent assassination of his half brother some time next week.

"We will hold an event to send the leaflets on Tuesday at the earliest," Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector who leads the group, told Yonhap News Agency.

North Korea is sensitive to Seoul activists' move to send anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and does not want ordinary North Koreans to know the truth about its repressive regime. The leaflet campaign is one of the main sources of tension between the two Koreas.

The foundation, once it becomes operational, will be the central body running projects by the government to improve North Korea's situation. For the next year, South Korea set aside 11.8 billion won ($10.3 million) of its budget for the operation of the agency.

Under the law, the board will consist of 12 members, out of which two posts are recommended by the country's unification minister. The ruling and opposition parties are entitled to file a list of five candidates each.

The ruling Liberty Korea Party and the minor People's Party submitted a combined six candidates for the board, but the main opposition Democratic Party has yet to do the same.

"The latest killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half brother has revealed the brutality of the North Korean regime," the official said.

Last year, Seoul launched a center designed to document North Korea's human rights abuses in a bid to investigate and collect data on Pyongyang's human rights violations in accordance with the law. (Yonhap)