U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday the United States would use the United Nations General Assembly this month to persuade countries to help "call out" China over treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority.

Asked after a speech at Kansas State University how Washington had been promoting an end to the oppression of Uighurs in China, Pompeo told an audience there: "Insufficiently, because it's still going on."

"We are going to have this U.N. General Assembly in the third week in September. We'll do a number of gatherings, where our efforts will be to get other countries to sign up to help us call out this activity," Pompeo said.