Vice Unification Minister Lee Bong-jo says peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula are more important than openly demanding better human rights in North Korea.

Lee on Thursday said Seoul's top priority should be peace and stability given that the confrontation between the two Koreas along the Demilitarized Zone.

He said that if the government openly raises the human rights issue, the North will consider it a threat to its regime and thus aggravate stability on the peninsula.

Stressing consistent policy and actions over words, Lee said the government has provided food and fertilizer and taken in all North Korean defectors who wanted to come to South Korea.

Lee said improving the political rights of North Koreans through economic development and expanding market economics will prove more effective in helping people in the North.