22 July, 2017
On Friday, Young Pioneer Tours wrote on its website that, "We have just been informed that the USA government will no longer be allowing USA citizens to travel to the DPRK (North Korea)".
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has authorized a "Geographical Travel Restriction" on Americans to forbid them from entering North Korea, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
Another tour group, Koryo Tours, also said in a statement that the US government will introduce a travel ban that will take effect in late August.
And because the USA doesn't maintain any diplomatic or consular relations with North Korea, if you were to get into trouble, the government doesn't have any way to provide help like it would through the normal consular channels available to US citizens.
The U.S. strongly warns Americans against traveling to North Korea, but has not until now prohibited it despite other sanctions targeting the country. Americans who venture there typically travel from China, where several tour groups market trips to adventure-seekers.
In a letter to the North Korean dictator the association congratulated the "great success" of the intercontinental ballistic missile test earlier this month, according the dumpy despot's official mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun. "Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high", the company said. But some have been seized and given draconian sentences for seemingly minor offenses.
"Once in effect, USA passports will be invalid for travel to, through and in North Korea, and individuals will be required to obtain a passport with a special validation in order to travel to or within North Korea", Nauert said. Pyongyang's recent successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile - the first by the North - has created even more urgency as the US seeks to stop North Korea before it can master the complex process of putting a nuclear warhead atop a missile capable of hitting the United States.
Under U.S. law, the secretary of state has the authority to designate passports as restricted for travel to countries with which the United States is at war, when armed hostilities are in progress, or when there is imminent danger to the public health or physical security of United States travelers. Americans who violate the restriction could face a fine and up to 10 years in prison for a first offense.
Since 1967, such bans have been imposed intermittently on countries including Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Cuba and North Vietnam. There are now no such restrictions in place.
North Korea has said through its state media that Warmbier's death was "a mystery" and dismissed accusations that he had died as a result of torture and beating in captivity.
Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American was sentenced last year to 15 years hard labor in North Korea for trying to steal a propaganda sign while on a tourist visit.
Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former U.S. Treasury official, said the State Department action was important as it would limit North Korea's ability to use detained Americans as bargaining chips with Washington as it has in the past.
Two-thirds of Americans across the political spectrum now reportedly view North Korea as a serious threat to America.
It comes in the wake of Otto Warmbier's death. Lawmakers in Congress have also pushed their own, legislative solutions to try to ban travel to the North.
Secret Compass has brought three Americans among the 19 people it took to North Korea since launching tours there last fall, he said.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected human rights abuse claims and instead argues that the USA is the world's worst violator. "That's not what soft power is about".
