Americans are banned from traveling to North Korea

Photo: Flickr

The US government plans to ban US travel to North Korea.

In the presidential administration, such a move is considered after the death of 23-year-old American student Otto Wormbier, who returned to the United States in a state of coma and with extensive brain damage, after spending a year and a half in a prison in the DPRK, writes USA Today.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson decided to impose "geographical restrictions on travel" to North Korea, after which entry into this country on an American passport would be declared illegal. Americans who violate this ban may face fines and imprisonment for up to 10 years.

According to the officials who wished to remain unnamed, the restriction will come into force through 30 days after the publication of the notice about it in the Federal Register, but it is not yet clear when it will be published.

Officials are not allowed to publicly discuss the decision before announcing it. Two tour operators who organize trips to North Korea confirmed the information about the ban and said that they had already been informed about this decision.

There is no information about how many Americans visited North Korea, since Americans mostly travel there from China. The US government strongly warns Americans about the dangers of traveling to this country, but so far no ban has been imposed on them, despite other sanctions against the DPRK.

Most of the US citizens who visited this country did not have any incidents there and returned safely, but some were detained by the police for reasons unknown to them or sentenced to severe punishment for minor offenses.

In addition to protecting the Americans, the Trump administration sees in the ban a way to further isolate the DPRK and increase pressure on this country to stop the development of nuclear weapons there.

According to US law, the Secretary of State has the right to impose restrictions on the travel of Americans to countries with which the United States is at war, or when there is an immediate danger to life and health for American tourists in the country. Such restrictions are rarely introduced, but were previously used for several countries.

Since 1967, such bans have been periodically imposed on Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Cuba and North Vietnam. Currently, such a ban on travel of Americans does not apply to any country, although there are certain restrictions for those who want to travel to Cuba.

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