WASHINGTON -- The United States is working closely with South Korea and Japan to address human rights violations committed by North Korea, including the abduction of foreign nationals, a state department spokesperson said Wednesday.

The remarks came as Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was set to meet with a group of Japanese officials and representatives of the Association of Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea.

"The entirety of this department, including Deputy Secretary Sherman, continue to be deeply concerned about the human rights atrocities and violations that the DPRK partakes in, including the arbitrary detention and kidnapping of citizens," state department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a daily press briefing.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

"And so this is something that we will continue to work in close concert with our allies and partners. Especially in the Indo-Pacific region, (we) continue to work closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan itself," added Patel, referring to South Korea by its formal name.

In February, the state department said Pyongyang remained one of only three countries to be designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the US in 2021, partly citing the longstanding issue of Japanese nationals believed to have been abducted by the country in the 1970s and 1980s.

The state department had noted only five such abductees have been repatriated to Japan since 2002. (Yonhap)