Foreign minister Cho Tae-yul said on Thursday that North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, and its systematic violation of human rights, are two sides of the same coin.

At a forum hosted by the foreign ministry marking the tenth anniversary of the release of the UN Report of the Commission of Inquiry(COI) on Human Rights in North Korea, Cho said any attempt to secure permanent peace would be unstable unless the regime's human rights situation improves.

He said the diversion of scarce resources under a failed economy toward the development of weapons of mass destruction(WMD) would ultimately come at the expense of the North Korean people, adding that sustainable peace cannot be achieved solely by resolving the North's security threats.

The minister then urged Pyongyang to repatriate all abductees, detainees and prisoners of war home to their families, also stressing that North Korean defectors should be able to safely and promptly reach the destination of their choice.

The COI released the report in February 2014, containing findings from its investigation into the North's systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights, as well as recommendations to the Human Rights Council.