The United States is set to implement and enforce a ban on all US citizens travelling to North Korea according to a statement from Young Pioneer Tours, a travel agency based in China which offers Americans and others the opportunity to go on sightseeing tours of North Korea.

The statement was further confirmed by Koryo Tours agency which offers similar tours of North Korea.

Simon Cockerell, the general manager of the Beijing based Koryo Tours gave the following statement,

“It’s a pity, because if you’re pro-human engagement, there’s nothing anywhere near as good as human contact as a tool to combat media narratives about what people from other places are like. Unfortunately, the representation of Americans in official (North Korean) state media is horribly negative,” he continued. “One thing counteracting this – for the few people who can interact with them – is human level contact. And that now is not an option”.

The move is a blow to curious travellers as well as those interested in overcoming political divides through cultural enrichment and educational opportunities.

Others have stated that the move is primarily motivated to keep US hard-currency out of North Korea at a time when Washington seeks to impose further sanctions on Pyongyang.

It is estimated that 1,250 Americans visit North Korea per-year, an average calculated based on recorded visits between 2010, when Pyongyang lifted tourism restrictions for US passport holders and the present day. The annual turnover from US tourism in North Korea is said to be worth $1.9 million per annum.

Further sanctions on Pyongyang are staunchly opposed by two of North Korea’s neighbours, China and Russia.

READ MORE: Foreign Ministers of Russia and China agree on North Korea and Syria (VIDEO)

The tour companies stated that they received their information from the Swedish consulate in Pyongyang which handles business relating to the US as the American government has no diplomatic relations with North Korea.

Neither Washington nor Pyongyang have officially made a statement on the issue.</s>The State Department said Friday it will prohibit U.S. citizens from traveling to North Korea starting late next month, citing the risk of arrest and imprisonment by the authoritarian regime in Pyongyang.

The decision by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson bars use of U.S. passports “to travel in, through, or to North Korea,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

The move follows the still-unexplained death of Otto F. Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who was arrested in Pyongyang in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel.

After nearly 18 months in prison, Warmbier was released on medical grounds last month. He was flown in a coma to his home in Cincinnati, where he died six days later.

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The State Department long has warned Americans not to visit North Korea, as it does for conflict zones and other countries with governments seen as hostile — but did not forbid it outright. It thus will become the only country off-limits to U.S. passport holders.

Hundreds of Americans visit North Korea each year on tour groups that specialize in travel to the reclusive country, many citing the allure of a mysterious, little-known part of northeast Asia. Some aid workers, journalists and academics also travel there.

More than a dozen Americans have been arrested and detained in North Korea since 2009. At least three Korean Americans are still held there, including an accounting teacher who was arrested at the Pyongyang airport in April and charged with unspecified criminal acts.

Tillerson decided to ban U.S. travel to North Korea “due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention” there, Nauert said.

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“The safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities,” she added.

The restriction will be published next week in the Federal Register and take effect 30 days later. Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis for some humanitarian travel, Nauert said.

The action comes as President Trump grapples to find a strategy to pressure North Korea to rein in its robust nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests in a period of rising tensions.

In April, Trump personally sought the help of Chinese President Xi Jinping to influence North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but that strategy has largely failed to produce results.

Since then, the administration has added new sanctions on people or companies, including some in China, that do business in or with North Korea.

Earlier this month, North Korea tested a missile that flew a trajectory that U.S. experts said indicated an ability for the first time to cross the Pacific and potentially threaten the United States.

U.S. officials say the country has yet to build a nuclear weapon small enough to fit atop a missile and survive re-entry into the atmosphere, but that is probably a matter of time.

Warmbier’s family say they have not received a satisfactory explanation of what led to his death.

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North Korean authorities said Warmbier contracted botulism shortly after he was imprisoned, was given a sleeping pill and never woke up. U.S. doctors did not find that version plausible.

Warmbier’s travel agency was Young Pioneer Tours, which advertised with the slogan, “Budget tours to destinations your mother wants you to stay away from.”

Pioneer Tours said it on its website Friday that the ban is likely to take effect around Aug. 27. After that, “any U.S. national that travels to North Korea will have their passport invalidated by their government.”

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter</s>People gather to mark the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the demise of the country's founding father Kim Il Sung in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang July 8, 2017. Source: Reuters/KCNA

NORTH Korea’s economy grew at its fastest pace in 17 years in 2016, South Korea’s central bank said on Friday, despite the isolated country facing international sanctions aimed at curbing its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in North Korea last year rose 3.9 percent from the previous year when the economy contracted due to a drought and low commodity prices, the Bank of Korea said. The expansion, driven by mining and energy, marked the biggest rise since a 6.1 percent gain in 1999.

North Korea, which counts China as its biggest trading partner, also boosted exports by 4.6 percent, the most since an 11.8 percent jump in 2013.

Still, the isolated state’s per capita gross national income in 2016 was just 1.5 million won (US$1,342), less than 5 percent of the comparable number in South Korea.

SEE ALSO: North Korea: Worst drought in 16 years threatens food supplies – UN



North Korea does not publish economic data. The Bank of Korea has released GDP data on North Korea every year since 1991 based on information from government agencies including South Korea’s Ministry of Unification and the National Intelligence Service. The estimate is widely used by international organisations and researchers.

North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes and the Security Council has ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear tests and two long-range missile launches.

The robust economic growth may partly be due to the North’s active nuclear and missile development programme, as the manufacture of components is included when calculating GDP growth, according to Shin Seung-cheol, an official at the BOK.

Shin added North Korea had boosted electricity production in 2016 but could not confirm whether this was linked to missile manufacturing.

In February, China banned all imports of coal from its reclusive neighbour, cutting off its most important export. China is also restricting the flow of oil into the North.

The United States is mulling new sanctions on Chinese firms and bank doing business with Pyongyang on top of trying to get China and Russia to back a new UN Security Council resolution imposing stiffer sanctions on North Korea following its latest missile test.

SEE ALSO: US think tank says North Korea may have more nuclear bomb material than thought



In 2016, China accounted for 92.5 percent of all North Korean trade, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on Friday.

The North’s economy this year will “definitely” be impacted by China’s decision to ban all coal imports, said Kim Suk-jin, a research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute of National Unification (KINU).

“North Korea can bypass some sanctions but coal is critical for their economy and it is something that’s difficult to smuggle. Coal can be spotted easily when it’s being moved,” said Kim.

Lim Soo-ho, a research head at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, said that sanctions didn’t bite hard last year, as China loosened some of its earlier restrictions in the second half after South Korea decided to deploy a US anti-missile defense system.

“With expanding sanctions, there are more downside risks to its growth this year than last,” Lim said. “Pyongyang’s heavy industries and manufacturing sectors could be hit hard if China continues to cut fuel sales to North Korea.”

The Bank of Korea official declined to comment on how the Chinese coal ban and tightened international sanctions since last year would affect North Korea’s economy in 2017. The United Nations’ food agency said on Thursday North Korea is facing severe food shortages due to the worst drought since 2001.

Kim said it was too early to say whether North Korea’s crops will suffer, as the Korean Peninsula has seen much rain in recent weeks.

North Korea’s 2016 GDP in real terms stood at 32.0 trillion won (US$28.50 billion), according to the Bank of Korea data – a fraction of South Korea’s 1,508.3 trillion won (US$1.34 trillion).

Mining and manufacturing make up the biggest portion of North Korea’s industry, accounting last year for 33.2 percent of the sector.

SEE ALSO: North Korea doesn’t have ICBM re-entry technology, says South



Overall exports from North Korea, excluding trade with South Korea, rose 4.6 percent last year to US$2.82 billion thanks to shipments of fishery products, which soared 74.0 percent, the South’s central bank said.

North Korea imports rose 4.8 percent to US$3.73 billion, led by plant products and textiles.

Although trade between the two Koreas plunged 87.7 percent last year due to a shutdown of a joint industrial zone the North shared with the South just north of the border, the North’s headline trade numbers were barely affected, the data showed.

The Kaesong Industrial Zone was shut down early last year after the North tested a long-range rocket in February defying UN sanctions. – Reuters</s>After Otto Warmbier's Death, U.S. Plans To Ban Travel To North Korea

The U.S. is about to ban travel by U.S. citizens to North Korea. The move comes after the death of American Otto Warmbier, who spent a year and a half in a North Korean jail only to return home in a coma.</s>The U.S. government will ban Americans from travelling to North Korea due to "the serious risk of arrest" after an American student was jailed while on a tour and later died, the State Department said on Friday.

WASHINGTON/SEOUL: The U.S. government will ban Americans from travelling to North Korea due to "the serious risk of arrest" after an American student was jailed while on a tour and later died, the State Department said on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson authorized a "Geographical Travel Restriction" on all Americans' use of a passport to the country, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

"Once in effect, U.S. 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.

The move was due to "mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement," she added.

North Korea has detained two Korean-American academics and a missionary, a Canadian pastor and three South Korean nationals who were doing missionary work there. Japan says at least several dozen of its nationals are being held in the country.

The State Department plans to publish a notice in the Federal Register next week, starting a 30-day clock before the restriction takes effect, Nauert said.

Nauert said Americans who want to travel to North Korea "for certain limited humanitarian or other purposes" can apply for a special passport to do so.

Young Pioneer, a company that arranges tours to North Korea, took American student Otto Warmbier to the country at the end of 2015.

He was arrested there and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for an incident at his hotel where he was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner.

North Korea released the 22-year-old Warmbier in June in a coma and he died days after getting back to the United States. The circumstances surrounding his death are not clear, including why he fell into a coma.

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.

The isolated North Korea allows foreign tourists to visit but their travel is strictly limited.

Hundreds of Americans are among the roughly 4,000 to 5,000 Western tourists who visit North Korea each year, according to U.S. Representative Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina.

Earlier this year Wilson introduced a bill with Democratic Representative Adam Schiff to ban Americans from travelling to North Korea as tourists.

Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former U.S. Treasury official, said the State Department's action is important because it limits North Korea's ability to use detained Americans as a bargaining chip with Washington.

A Treasury Department ban, which must be authorized by Congress, would be more effective than just the State Department ban, he said.

"Treasury has experience implementing a travel ban and an established procedure for issuing exceptions," Ruggiero said.

A Treasury Department spokesman did not immediately say whether the agency is considering such a ban.

Tom Bodkin, managing director of the UK-based adventure travel company Secret Compass, said the travel ban is "a bit of a shame."

"Travel between different cultures breaks down the preconceptions that you have about different cultures and breaks down the stereotypes that you have," he said.

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's growing nuclear and missile threat is perhaps the most serious security challenge confronting U.S. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to strike the United States with a nuclear missile - a capability experts say Pyongyang could have some time after 2020.</s>WASHINGTON — American citizens are expected to be banned soon from traveling to North Korea, travel agencies said Friday, a move confirmed by one U.S. official.

It was not immediately clear whether there would be exemptions to the travel restrictions.

This comes a month after the death of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student who passed away after falling into a coma while imprisoned in North Korea.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson previously floated the idea of travel restrictions to the reclusive nation during testimony last month before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"We have been evaluating whether we should put some type of travel visa restriction to North Korea," Tillerson told the committee. "We've not come to a final conclusion, but we are considering it."

Warmbier died on June 19, less than a week after he returned to America following more than a year in custody for trying to steal a North Korea propaganda banner from his Pyongyang hotel. Warmbier, whose cause of death remains unclear, was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor and was sent home after 17 months.

A day after Warmbier's death, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said "we are contemplating" further travel restrictions.

The group that arranged Warmbier's visit, Young Pioneer Tours, said they would no longer bring Americans to North Korea because the risk "has become too high."

On Friday, Young Pioneer Tours wrote on its website that, "We have just been informed that the U.S. government will no longer be allowing U.S. citizens to travel to the DPRK (North Korea). It is expected that the ban will come into force within 30 days of July 27."

Another tour group, Koryo Tours, also said in a statement that the U.S. government will introduce a travel ban that will take effect in late August. "This news has been expected but nevertheless is something of a shock, and we're sorry for anyone who had planned a trip or who had hoped to visit and who now will not be permitted to do so," the group said on its website.

Related: North Korea Crisis: How Events Have Unfolded Under Trump

The secretary of state has discretion to impose travel restrictions on specific countries if one of the three following conditions exist: the country is at war with the United States; armed conflict exists within the country; or an American traveler faces imminent danger in the country.

The ban would be implemented through what is known as a Geographic Travel Restriction making all U.S. passports invalid for travel in, or through, a specific country. There are currently no such restrictions in place.

The use of such restrictions dates back to the Civil war but more recently were imposed for Iran (1980-1981), Lebanon (1987-1997), Iraq (1991-2003), Libya (1981-2004) and Cuba (1963-1977). It has been rare that individuals violating such a restriction have been prosecuted.</s>The United States will ban Americans from traveling to North Korea in the coming weeks due to the “serious risk of arrest and long-term detention,” the U.S. State Department said Friday, a month after U.S. college student Otto Warmbier died following his imprisonment by the isolated nation.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had authorized a “Geographical Travel Restriction” on all U.S. nationals’ use of a passport for travel to North Korea.

“Once in effect, U.S. 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,” she said.

Nauert added that the restriction would be published in the Federal Register next week.

It “will be implemented 30 days after publication of the Federal Register notice announcing the restriction,” she said, adding that Americans who wanted to travel to North Korea “for certain limited humanitarian or other purposes” could apply for special passports.

Two travel operators, including China-based Koryo Tours, which bills itself as the biggest such company among a handful of firms offering trips to North Korea, earlier said they had been notified of the ban by the Swedish Embassy, which handles U.S. affairs in the North.

The U.S. has no diplomatic relations with the North and relies on the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang as its “protective power” with the North Korean government.

The other firm, Young Pioneer Tours, which took Warmbier to North Korea on his fateful trip and is also headquartered in China, said in a statement on its website that it, too, had been notified of the looming ban.

“We have just been informed that the U.S. government will no longer be allowing U.S. citizens to travel to the DPRK (North Korea),” the firm said in its statement.

“It is expected that the ban will come into force within 30 days of July 27th,” it said. “After the 30 day grace period any U.S. national that travels to North Korea will have their passport invalidated by their government.”

North Korea marks the anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War on July 27, a national holiday in the communist country.

Foreign tourists, including Americans, are allowed to visit the North but must go with a tour company. U.S. citizens must take a plane to the country, with the vast majority of all nationalities traveling through Beijing. Travel is strictly limited once in the North.

Under the ban, however, visitors could still cheat to enter the North, according to Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former U.S. Treasury official.

“Cheating the travel ban is a question of implementation,” he said. “What safeguards will State put in place to prevent cheating?”

U.S. nationals, Ruggiero said, would be gaming the system at the risk of losing their passports and other penalties. “People will have to weigh those consequences,” he added.

Simon Cockerell, the general manager of Koryo Tours, told The Japan Times that his company, which takes the most Americans to the country, had been notified directly by the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang.

Cockerell said the ban would be a “pity,” adding that it would have implications beyond just ending American participation in the tours. Tourists from other countries, he said, would likely be “put off” by the move.

And while the ban would likely be bad for business, Cockerell said it would cut off a key chance for North Koreans to see Westerners and Americans outside of the regime’s portrayals in its propaganda.

“Every portrayal in the North Korean media of foreigners, especially Americans, is really, really negative — to a degree that we would consider comical,” he said.

“Now, nobody will interact with any Americans. They will only see propaganda about Americans. This is the information they are given and this is what most people buy into,” he added. “It’s a pity. It’s a soft power opportunity that has been thrown away.”

Mintaro Obe, a former U.S. diplomat working on Asia policy, said the argument that tourism could lead to a softening of views of Americans was based on false presumptions.

“I don’t agree with the ‘soft power’ argument at all as North Koreans who are exposed to Americans are usually in Pyongyang, where elites in good standing with the regime live,” Obe said. “Minders are present throughout interactions,” meaning Americans aren’t allowed to roam around freely, meeting ordinary North Koreans.

According to Sue Mi Terry, a former senior analyst on North Korea at the CIA and currently managing director for Korea at the Bower Group Asia, any attempt by visiting Americans to share information about the outside world “would get everyone involved arrested.”

“So ending their travel would not have any impact on ordinary North Koreans,” Terry said.

Western tourism to North Korea first began to grow around 2009, according to tour operators. Most travel agencies estimate there are now between 4,000 to 6,000 such visitors each year, including 800 to 1,000 Americans.

News of the ban comes just over a month to the date when Warmbier died at the age of 22 in the U.S., less than a week after being released by the North in a coma.

Prior to his release, Warmbier had been serving a 15-year prison term with hard labor for “anti-state” acts — he allegedly tried to steal a propaganda poster from a hotel — during a short trip there at the end of 2015. The University of Virginia student was arrested on Jan. 2, 2016, and sentenced in March that year.

Warmbier had been comatose for more than a year, since shortly after a final public appearance at his show trial in Pyongyang, according to North Korean officials who claimed he contracted botulism and was given a sleeping pill, from which he never woke up.

His parents reject this claim, saying that he had instead been subjected to “awful torturous mistreatment” by the North Koreans. U.S. doctors who examined him said they uncovered no traces of botulism or beatings.

In the North’s first comments after Warmbier’s death, state media called his passing “a mystery” and labeled the country as “the biggest victim of this incident.”

Three other Americans are still believed to be held by the North: Kim Sang-duk, who also goes by the name Tony Kim, and Kim Hak-song — both academics who worked at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology — and businessman Kim Dong Chul.

A Canadian pastor and three South Korean nationals who were doing missionary work are also being held in the country. Japan says North Korea has also detained at least several dozen of its nationals, but Pyongyang either denies this or claims those held have long since died.

Washington has accused Pyongyang of holding American nationals as bargaining chips in negotiations with the United States over the country’s nuclear weapons program.

Pyongyang has conducted a spate of missile tests this year — including one of an intercontinental ballistic missile believed to be capable of striking parts of the U.S.

Likely more important than any economic effects the ban may have on the North, it is being implemented “to prevent Pyongyang from seizing more Americans as bargaining chips,” Terry said.

“The North has long played this game to its advantage, taking Americans prisoner and only freeing them after humiliating the U.S. and extracting some concessions, even if only high-level visits to the North by American envoys,” she said.

“There is no good reason why the U.S. should cooperate with this protection racket by providing a steady supply of hostages.”

In May, the U.S. issued a travel warning for North Korea, strongly urging its citizens not to travel to the country.

The North “imposes unduly harsh sentences for actions that would not be considered crimes in the United States and threatens U.S. citizen detainees with being treated in accordance with ‘wartime law of the DPRK,’ ” the State Department said in the warning.

It noted that at least 16 U.S. citizens had been detained in the North over the last decade, including “those who traveled independently and those who were part of organized tours.”

Prior to Warmbier’s death, Reps. Joe Wilson and Adam Schiff had sponsored a bipartisan bill to outlaw most U.S. travel to North Korea for five years. The legislation would ban tourism travel altogether and require Americans who do visit the country to get a license from the Treasury Department.

That bill was sent before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in late May and is scheduled for markup on July 27.

Sen. John McCain, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, suggested after Warmbier’s death that Americans who want to visit North Korea should sign a waiver to acknowledge the risk and Washington’s inability to intervene if they require assistance.

“If people are that stupid that they still want to go to that country then at least they assume the responsibility for their welfare,” McCain said at the time.</s>WASHINGTON : The United States confirmed Friday that it plans to ban its nationals from traveling to North Korea, in the wake of the death of an American student who was imprisoned by Pyongyang during a tourist visit.

Travel agencies organizing trips to the isolated country had said earlier Friday they were informed of the impending change.

Strict warnings against travel to North Korea had already been in place, but Washington toughened its stance after the death in June of Otto Warmbier.

The 22-year-old University of Virginia student was imprisoned for more than a year on charges of stealing a propaganda poster from a North Korean hotel - and sent home in a mysterious coma that proved fatal.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the new restriction would be formally published in the government’s Federal Register next week, and take effect one month later.

“Due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement, the secretary has authorized a Geographical Travel Restriction on all US citizen nationals’ use of a passport to travel in, through, or to North Korea,” Nauert said.

“Once in effect, US passports will be invalid for travel to, through and in North Korea,” she said.

Those seeking authorization for travel for “certain limited humanitarian or other purposes” would only be able to do so with a “special validation passport,” the spokeswoman added.

“The safety and security of US citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities.”

After Warmbier’s death, President Donald Trump said he was determined to “prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.”

China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which had taken Warmbier to North Korea, and Koryo Tours said the ban will be published on July 27 - the anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

“We have just been informed that the US government will no longer be allowing US citizens to travel to the DPRK (North Korea),” Young Pioneer Tours said on its website.

Young Pioneer Tours had already said it would no longer take Americans to North Korea in the wake of Warmbier’s death.

Koryo Tours general manager Simon Cockerell told AFP that his company had been notified by the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which usually acts on behalf of the United States in North Korea since Washington has no diplomatic ties with the isolated regime.

The official announcement “will basically end American tourism” in North Korea, said Cockerell, whose company currently takes between 300-400 Americans to the country each year.

While the decision will be bad for business, he said he sees it as more damaging to “North Koreans who are interested in having a balanced portrayal of what Americans are really like.”

Legislation was introduced in the US House of Representatives in May that would have forbidden Americans from traveling to North Korea. That measure is still pending.

It cited the risk of their use as “bargaining chips in negotiations over a variety of issues,” including Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

California Democrat Adam Schiff, who introduced the bill, welcomed the State Department’s move, saying in the wake of Warmbier’s death, “limiting US travel is unfortunately sensible and necessary.”

Travellers wanting to visit the North must go with a tour company. They are required to fly to Pyongyang from Beijing, while other nationalities are allowed to go by train.

But the US State Department has strongly warned US citizens against travelling there.

Warmbier’s death added to already high tensions in the region over North Korea’s weapons ambitions, culminating in the country’s successful test launch earlier this month of an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts say could reach Alaska.

North Korea has accused the United States of waging a “smear campaign” and denied that Warmbier was tortured or abused.

At least three Americans remain in North Korean custody: two professors, Kim Hak-Song and Kim Sang-Duk (or Tony Kim), who were both working at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST); and Korean-American Kim Dong-Chul, who was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for spying.</s>WASHINGTON -- American citizens will be barred by the U.S. from traveling to North Korea beginning next month after a prohibition on using U.S. passports to enter the country, the State Department said Friday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson decided to impose a "geographical travel restriction" on North Korea after the death last month of American university student Otto Warmbier, who fell into a coma while in North Korean custody. The ban also comes amid heightened U.S. concern about Pyongyang's recent advancements in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

Figures on how many Americans visit North Korea are difficult for even the U.S. government to obtain. But Simon Cockerell of the Koryo Group, one of the leading organizers of guided tours to the country, said 800 to 1,000 Americans visit annually and will be affected.

State Department spokesman Heather Nauert said in a statement, "Due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement, the secretary has authorized a Geographical Travel Restriction on all U.S. citizen nationals' use of a passport to travel in, through or to North Korea."

The restriction will take effect in late August, 30 days after it is published as a legal notice in the Federal Register.

Once it takes effect, Americans wanting to travel to North Korea may do so legally only with a "special validation passport," which will be granted by the State Department on a case-by-case basis for "certain limited humanitarian or other purposes," the statement said.

It did not elaborate on what "other purposes" the department would consider. Americans who violate the restriction could face a fine and up to 10 years in prison for a first offense.

The U.S. strongly warns Americans against traveling to North Korea but has not until now prohibited trips, despite other sanctions targeting the country.

Nearly all Americans who have gone to North Korea have left without incident. But some have been seized and given draconian sentences for seemingly minor offenses. Over the past decade, at least 16 U.S. citizens have been detained, officials say.

The travel ban comes as the Trump administration searches for more effective ways to ramp up pressure on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang's recent successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile -- the first by the North -- has created even more urgency as the U.S. seeks to stop North Korea before it can master the complex process of mounting a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the United States.

President Donald Trump has expressed frustration that his initial strategy -- enlisting China's influence to squeeze the North economically and diplomatically -- has not yielded major results. Trump's administration is considering other economic steps, including "secondary sanctions" that could target companies and banks, mostly in China, that conduct legitimate business with North Korea, officials say.

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 U.S. travelers.

Since 1967, such bans have been imposed intermittently on countries including Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Cuba and North Vietnam. The U.S. doesn't currently prohibit its passports from being used to travel to any countries, even though financial restrictions limit U.S. travel to Cuba and elsewhere.

Warmbier, who died after being medically evacuated in a coma from North Korea last month, suffered a severe neurological injury from an unknown cause while in custody. Relatives said they were told that the 22-year-old University of Virginia student had been in a coma since shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea in March 2016. He had been accused of stealing a propaganda poster while on a tour of the country.

The United States, South Korea and others often accuse North Korea of using foreign detainees to wrest diplomatic concessions. At least three other Americans remain in custody in the North.

Tillerson had been weighing a North Korea travel ban since late April, when American teacher Tony Kim was detained in Pyongyang, according to a senior State Department official. Those deliberations gained even more urgency after Warmbier's death. Lawmakers in Congress have also pushed legislative solutions to try to ban travel to the North.

Two tour operators that organize group trips to North Korea said they had already been informed of the decision by officials from Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in North Korea because the two countries lack diplomatic relations.

Although Pyongyang does not publish exact figures, Americans are thought to account for a mere 1 percent of all foreign visitors. Westerners make up 5 percent of total visitors.

Cockerell said the ban would turn back the clock on engagement with the North.

"It's unfortunate because we criticize North Korea for being isolationist and now we're helping isolate them," Cockerell said. "That's not what soft power is about."

Information for this article was contributed by Christopher Bodeen of The Associated Press.</s>WASHINGTON: The Trump Administration today announced plans to ban its citizens from travelling to North Korea , attributing it to the serious risk of arrest and long- term detention of Americans in the reclusive nation.The move comes following the death of university student Otto Warmbier, who was returned to the U.S. in a coma after spending time in a North Korean prison.A federal notification is scheduled to be published next week and new travel restrictions could come into place 30 days after that."The safety and security of US citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said."Due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement, the Secretary (of State) has authorised a Geographical Travel Restriction on all US citizen nationals' use of a passport to travel in, through, or to North Korea," Nauert said.Once in effect, US 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, she said.Individuals seeking to travel to North Korea for certain limited humanitarian or other purposes may apply to the Department of State for a special validation passport, the spokesperson said.There has been movement towards a ban for a while in the US, which increased with the Warmbier death.Apart from the treatment of Americans in North Korea, tension has been increasing over North Korea's nuclear programme.This month North Korea announced it had successfully tested what it said was its first intercontinental ballistic missile, the latest in a series of tests in defiance of a UN ban.
The U.S. State Department announces that it will ban travel to North Korea, following the death of Otto Warmbier.