Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said that lasting peace and stability is impossible without respect of human rights while addressing North Korean issues.

Yun made the remarks on Monday during his keynote speech at the annual OSCE-Asian conference held in Seoul. 

The minister stressed a holistic approach to North Korean issues which overlooks not only in terms of security, but also economy and human rights.

Yun said that the North’s nuclear weapons are the most critical issue on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, adding it is part of North Korea's broader issues that include the economic crisis and human rights abuses.

In recent talks among top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan, North Korea’s human rights issue was cited as a possible way to induce changes from the North.