The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has called on the U.S. State Department to re-designate North Korea as a "country for particular concern" for religious freedom violations, a media report said Tuesday.

The independent organization under the U.S. federal government made the recommendation in its annual report on religious freedom, in which North Korea is one of 17 countries named CPCs under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, according to the Washington-based Voice of America (VOA). The other countries subject to CPC designation include China, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan.

The North has been on the religious freedom CPC list since 2001 and was last designated as a CPC in July last year.

In the 2016 religious freedom report, the USCIRF said, "North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion for its citizens and the country, but religious freedom does not exist in practice."

The USCIRF also said the North Korean regime tolerates no religious freedom and continues to deal harshly with those involved in almost any religious practice.

"They arrest, torture and even execute those who are secretly engaged in religious activities," the organization said.

Expressing concern about China's practice of sending North Korean defectors back to their home country, the report suggested the U.S. government slap harsher sanctions on North Korean individuals and organizations that are involved in the human rights violations. (Yonhap)