The U.S. State Department has re-designated ten countries including North Korea as "countries of particular concern" for violations of religious freedom.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Tuesday that in far too many places across the globe, individuals continue to face harassment, arrest or even death for simply living their lives in accordance with their beliefs, adding the United States will not stand by as spectators in the face of such oppression.

North Korea has been included on the U.S. annual blacklist for 17 straight years since 2001.   

Other countries on the blacklist, which are found to have engaged or tolerated in "systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom," are China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.