The United States maintained its designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in its annual report.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday released the 2023 Country Reports on Terrorism, which listed North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism.

The North has remained on the list since 2017, when the department, under the Trump administration, redesignated it after American college student Otto Warmbier died shortly after being released from North Korean custody and Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was assassinated at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.

The latest report said that in 2017, the department determined that the North had repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism in the nine years since its designation had been rescinded. 

The department also mentioned that four Japanese Red Army members, who are wanted by the Japanese government for participating in a 1970 Japan Airlines hijacking, continue to shelter in North Korea.

Mentioning the case, the department said that North Korea has failed to take action to address historical support for acts of international terrorism.