The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea says that conditions for rights protection have improved in the North in tandem with progress in the six-party nuclear talks, but warns that the situation in key areas remains serious.

In a report to the 62nd U.N. General Assembly that opened Tuesday, Special Rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn maintained a previous assessment of the North Korean human rights situation as at a dangerous level, attributing the situation to the communist state's military-first, or "seongun" policy.

He also said that Pyongang revived a rations system in October 2005, but that the majority of the public was not getting food.

The Thai human rights expert added that tuberculosis was spreading and the situation growing more complicated amid a shortage of medical services and supplies, fertilizer and electricity.