The United States has kept North Korea on its list of countries "not cooperating fully" with U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday in a press release that North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Cuba failed to be certified for 2019 under a U.S. counterterrorism law that affects defense exports. 
 
The department said the affected countries are prohibited from the sale or license for exports of defense articles and services. 

North Korea was first placed on the list in 1997 under the Arms Export Control Act, and has remained on it every year since. 

The state department said that in 2019, four Japanese individuals who participated in the 1970 hijacking of a Japan Airline flight continued to live in North Korea. 

It added the Japanese government also continued to seek a full account of the fate of 12 Japanese nationals believed to have been abducted by North Korean state entities in the 1970s and 1980s.