A high-ranking North Korean defector is urging South Korea to boost efforts to improve human rights in North Korea, saying progress will help resolve the denuclearization issue. 

Thae Yong-ho, North Korea's former deputy ambassador to London who defected to South Korea in 2016, said on Tuesday that despite global consensus on North Korea's grave human rights issues, Seoul’s efforts are going “backward”, pointing to a dormant plan to launch a related foundation. 

He also said South Korea's North Korean human rights law is barely functioning since its implementation two years ago, while the national budget on North Korean human rights has gone down sharply. 

He said human rights should not be considered secondary to improved inter-Korean relations, arguing that treating residents in both Koreas in the same way is the best way to realize unification.