US State Department extends Trump-era travel ban to North Korea

The ban on using United States passports to travel to North Korea has been extended by the administration of President Joe Biden, according to media reports. The ban was initially put in place by former President Donald Trump‘s administration.

After the demise of Otto Warmbier, an American student who succumbed to injuries while being in the custody of North Korean authorities, former United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson nodded to the ban in 2017. Warmbier was part of a group tour of North Korea and was leaving the country in January 2016 when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.

The US State Department, which is now under Secretary of State Antony Blinken, announced that the ban is being stretched till August 31, 2022 in a Federal Register notice to be published earlier this week.

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Humanitarian groups have expressed concern about the impact the initial ban and its extensions have had on providing relief to isolated North Korea, which is considered to be one of the world’s neediest countries, according to reports from news agency Associated Press.

The ban makes it illegal to use a United States passport for travel to, from or through North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or the DPRK, unless the document has been specially validated. Such validations are granted by the State Department only in the case of compelling national interest.

The notice issued by the Department of State earlier this week read, “The Department of State has determined there continues to be serious risk to US citizens and nationals of arrest and long-term detention constituting imminent danger to their physical safety”, according to reports from Associated Press.

It added, “Accordingly, all US passports shall remain invalid for travel to, in, or through the DPRK unless specially validated for such travel under the authority of the secretary of state.”

(With AP inputs)