In a report to be presented tomorrow to the UN Human Rights Council, special rapporteur Marzuki Darusman hoped the "new leadership in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will use the recent succession as an opportunity to engage with the international community and to secure global confidence." "The current transition may be a window of opportunity for the country to adopt a reform process and address all questions and concerns in relation to human rights," said Marzuki.

Kim Jong-Un took over as leader of the North Korean regime after his father Kim Jong-Il's death on December 17 from a heart attack at the age of 69.

Darusman, whose report covers September 2011 to January 2012, said "the human rights and humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate in the country" during the period.

There is an "alarming deterioration in the availability of food," said the rapporteur, adding that he was "concerned that the current dire food shortage ... will lead to serious health problems, especially in children, women and the elderly." He also chided North Korea's "neighboring countries" for forcibly returning refugees from the country.

While the expert did not name China, the Asian giant shares a large land border with the North.

China and Russia are also the only nearby states other than South Korea and Japan - both of which were praised by the expert for welcoming refugees.

In 2011, border controls were tightened and Pyongyang issued orders to "shoot and kill those fleeing" the North, said the expert.

As a result, more asylum seekers chose to leave by sea. In 2011, 47 people arrived by sea compared to just nine in the previous year.

Darusman based his report on interviews with NGOs and diplomats collected during missions to neighboring Japan and South Korea as Pyongyang denied him access to the North.

Meanwhile, a prominent US senator met Friday with North Korea's nuclear envoy who promised to live up to commitments made in an agreement last week with the United States.

Democrat Sen. John Kerry said that the North Korean also made a "profound statement" about wanting a different relationship and not wanting to fight with the United States.

Kerry met the envoy, Ri Yong Ho, at an informal security conference in New York, a week after Pyongyang agreed to freeze uranium enrichment and allow in UN inspectors. The North also agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests.

"They said that they will live by the agreement that they made last week, that we can count on that," Kerry, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told reporters.

In return, the US will provide its first food aid to the impoverished communist nation in three years.

That has contributed to an easing in tensions between the long-term adversaries, but is only a first step toward restarting six-nation disarmament negotiations that the North withdrew from in 2009.

"We have been here before. We have come to these points that have been constructive and something breaks down. We need to try and change that dynamic," Kerry said.