The United States says North Korea’s human rights record last year remained deplorable.

The U.S. made the assessment in its 2009 Human Rights Report released by the State Department on Thursday.

The United States says the human rights conditions in the North remain dire, with no organized political opposition, independent labor unions, free media or civil society.

According to the department, there have been continued reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, arrests of political prisoners, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions and torture.

In the report for 2008, released shortly after the launch of the Barack Obama administration last year, the U.S. said the North’s human rights conditions remained “poor.”