The United States has named North Korea one of the worst human trafficking nations for the 19th consecutive year.

The State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" put North Korea in the lowest Tier Three, along with 16 other countries including China, Russia and Iran.

North Korea was first put on the list in 2003 and has remained on it since. 

The report classified the 17 nations as Tier Three for failing to meet minimal standards to stop the inhumane cycle of discrimination and injustices. 

Releasing the report on Thursday, the department said the North Korean government did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and did not make significant efforts to do so. 

The report said there was a government "policy or pattern" of forced labor through the mass mobilization of adults and children, prison camps and labor training centers, and its imposition of forced labor conditions on North Korea's overseas contract workers.

It added that North Korea utilized the COVID-19 pandemic to increase the number of political prisoners, thereby expanding its existing capacity to subject North Koreans to forced labor.