With the implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act, South Korea’s efforts to enhance human rights in the reclusive nation have picked up speed.

The Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of the Interior said on Tuesday that revised ordinances concerning the operation of the Unification Ministry passed a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.

The revision enables the Unification Ministry to create the North Korean human rights record center as well as a bureau tasked with helping create a coexisting community for the two Koreas.

The North Korean human rights record center will be led by a director-level official and will document the testimonies of North Korean defectors. Every three months, the documents will move to a human rights archive established at the Ministry of Justice.

The Unification Ministry said the government will assume the roles of investigating and archiving the human rights situations in the North, which had previously been conducted by civic groups. It said that this is a significant move.

The new bureau will consist of several departments concerning Seoul’s humanitarian assistance to North Korean residents, or policies regarding separated families, South Korean abductees in the North and North Korean defectors.

The bureau will also put a newly-created department under its command. The so-called North Korean human rights department will draft Seoul’s policies aimed at improving the human rights situations in the North. It will also seek cooperation on the issue with civic groups at home and abroad as well as international organizations.

The creation of the bureau and the center will be the latest in a string of efforts by the South Korean government to instill changes in the North in the human rights arena.

On September fourth, the government began to implement the North Korean Human Rights Act after the parliament passed the bill eleven years after its introduction.

A Unification Ministry official said the reorganization of the ministry will bolster South Korea’s capacity to pursue the enhancement of human rights in the North and will eventually contribute to a peaceful reunification of the two Koreas.