The United States said Friday that North Korea is "horrible" on human rights and religious freedom.

The State Department released its annual report on international religious freedom covering the year 2018.  It noted that the UN Commission of Inquiry in 2014 concluded there was an "almost complete denial" by the North Korean government of the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and that in many instances, the government's violations of human rights constituted crimes against humanity.

The report said the regime was executing, torturing, beating and arresting people taking part in religious activities.

It said that 80-thousand to 120-thousand political prisoners are believed to be detained at concentration camps in North Korea and some of them are locked up for religious reasons.

Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, told reporters that the situation in North Korea is "deplorable" and it has been a Country of Particular Concern for years and the U.S. is going to continue to exert strong pressure. 

The U.S. State Department has been issuing the report on religious freedom since 1998 and designating North Korea as a Country of Particular Concern every year since 2001.