The United States kept North Korea on its list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2022.

In its “Country Reports on Terrorism 2022” released on Thursday, the U.S. State Department said that the North repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism as it was implicated in assassinations on foreign soil.

Noting that Pyongyang has failed to take action to address the longstanding support, the department cited the case of four Japanese Red Army members wanted by the Tokyo for participating in a 1970 Japan Airlines hijacking who continue to shelter in the North.

It added that the Japanese government continues to seek a full accounting of the fate of a number of its nationals believed to have been abducted by the regime in the 1970s and 1980s.

The North has been on the list of state sponsors of terrorism since 2017, when North Korean agents assassinated leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in Malaysia.

The department’s description for North Korea in the annual report has remained unchanged for the past four years.

[Photo : YONHAP News]