The United States and South Korea are working with the United Nations to set up a a meeting of foreign ministers attending the U.N. General Assembly in an effort to rally support for a U.N. resolution on North Korea's human rights situation, sources said Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se could attend the "side event" conference set to take place in New York during the "leaders' week" of the U.N. General Assembly later this month, the sources said.

The conference, led jointly by the U.S., the South and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, is aimed at highlighting the seriousness of North Korea's human rights situation and increasing international support for a UNGA resolution on the issue, they said.

"Any other country in the world that is willing to take part, whether it's other Security Council members like Australia, Chile and Jordan or any other country that's interested in North Korea's human rights record ... are welcome to participate," John Sifton of the Human Rights Watch said.

Earlier this week, a group of former American officials, scholars and activists sent a letter to Kerry, urging him to participate in the event, saying his participation would help generate widespread support of a strong U.N. General Assembly resolution on the North's human rights record.

"A side-event in particular ... would provide an excellent opportunity for ministerial-level discussion of the key findings of the Commission of Inquiry's report, and help lay the groundwork for widespread support of a strong UNGA resolution," they said in the letter.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies made the letter public on Friday.

The group of 14 people, who undersigned the letter, included former U.S. Assistant Secretaries of State Morton Abramowitz and Lorne Craner; Victor Cha, chief analyst on Korea at the CSIS; and Roberta Cohen, co-chair of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

In February, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry issued a report on the North's human rights records after a year-long probe, saying North Korean leaders are responsible for "widespread, systematic and gross" violations of human rights. It also said the International Criminal Court should handle North Korea's "crimes against humanity."

The group also welcomed the U.S. interest in co-sponsoring a draft resolution on North Korea currently being written by Japan and the European Union, and called on the U.S. to ensure the resolution condemns the North's human rights violations "in the strongest possible terms."

They also urged the text contain language urging the Security Council to consider new targeted sanctions against those who are most responsible for crimes against humanity, prioritize the commission's call for immediate access to North Korea's prison camps for human rights monitors and humanitarian groups, and endorse the creation of a field-based office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (Yonhap)