Isak made a transfer request last week and is currently in San Sebastian, Spain, training at Real Sociedad's HQ as he waits for Newcastle and Liverpool to find terms over a fee for him.
Speaking this morning from Seoul, Howe was asked for an update on the situation and if Isak had actually gone AWOL.
"I know where he is, really, through the media," Howe told the Daily Mail. "From that perspective, it’s difficult for me to go into any kind of detail. The situation is far from ideal and is quite complex."
Liverpool had an offer of £110m rejected on Friday and Howe said: "I was made aware of a bid yesterday (Friday) and that bid was turned down, all before I’d even heard about it.
"People back in England are dealing with the situation. I don’t know what happens next. From our perspective, we still support Alex in every way and my wish is that we see him in a Newcastle shirt again."
We deal with reality
Asked if Liverpool have now unsettled their star player, Howe also said: "It’s difficult, because you don’t know what is going to happen from this point.
"We can only deal with the reality. The reality is we had a first bid from Liverpool and I believe that was turned down. From this point onwards, let’s see what happens.
"In terms of trying to upset players and all that kind of stuff, from my perspective, we can only talk about our conduct. We try to do things in the right way. Signing players is always complex. We just try to do what we think is right. I can’t talk about other clubs, that’s not for me to say."