The exercise of religious freedom continued to be "non-existent" in North Korea last year as the regime continued to deal harshly with those involved in any religious practices, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report Wednesday.

The 2015 International Religious Freedom Report reconfirmed human rights abuses the North has long been accused of, including its denial of the right to "freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as well as of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, and association."

"The exercise of religious freedom continued to be nearly nonexistent in North Korea," the report said. "In 2015, the United States co-sponsored annual resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council that condemn the country's 'systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations.'"

Pyongyang's policy towards religion has been to maintain the appearance of tolerance for international audiences while internally suppressing all nonstate-sanctioned religious activities, the report said.

"The government continued to deal harshly with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, torture, beatings and arrests," it said. "An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in the political prison camp system in remote areas under horrific conditions."

It also said that ownership of Bibles or other religious materials brought in from abroad is reportedly illegal and also punishable by imprisonment and severe punishment, including, in some cases, execution.

The State Department has designated North Korea as a "country of particular concern" since 2001 under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom. The North was last redesignated as a CPC in February.

On South Korea, the report pointed out the issue of "conscientious objectors."

"The government continued to imprison approximately 600 conscientious objectors to mandatory military service, the majority of whom refuse military service for religious reasons," the report said. "On August 19, the Supreme Court rejected the final appeal of a December 2013 case filed by 50 individuals who had sought compensation for imprisonment as conscientious objectors." (Yonhap)