WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said Friday that it will not re-list Vietnam on its religious rights blacklist or the "list of countries of particular concern (CPC)."

    "We took Vietnam off the list of countries of particular concern in 2006. And we did so because Vietnam has addressed the central issues that we believed constituted severe violations of religious freedom, and they continue to make improvements on those," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said at a briefing.

    "And so at this point we believe that, while there are certainly still a number of issues in terms of religious freedom in Vietnam, the actions that the Vietnamese government has taken to address some of our concerns makes them a country that does not merit being included on the CPC or the countries of particular concern list," Casey said.

    Casey made the remarks after a U.S. religious freedom watchdog group urged the United States on Friday to put Vietnam back on the religious rights blacklist.