White House to issue travel ban to North Korea

The ban is the direct consequence of the death of Otto Warmbier, the American student who died after more than a year in North Korean prisons. The restriction will be published next week in the Federal Register and will come into effect within 30 days. The interim period needed to regularize the situation of those who are already in Pyongyang.

Washington (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The United States is set to place a travel ban on North Korea. Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the US Department of State, said yesterday that the new trump administration announcement will be released next week in the Federal Register and will come into effect within 30 days.

The decision is the direct consequence of the tragic story of  Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American student arrested by the Pyongyang authorities in March 2016 and sentenced to 15 years of forced labor on charges of stolen propaganda material. For his part, Warmbier had "confessed" in tears, saying he had only taken a propaganda sign to give it as a souvenir to a methodist friend in the United States. Released in June this year after 15 months in prison, his health conditions were severely compromised. The family reported that the boy was "terrified and brutalized" by Kim Jong-Un's regime. Otto's parents, Fred and Cindy, stated that their son was in coma since March 2016, most likely after having contracted botulism from medication. The young man died at home one week after his release.

Once it comes into force, American citizens who wish to travel to Korea for tourism will have to obtain a special consent from the authorities. The interim period will be used by local humanitarian organizations and tourists who are present on North Korean soil to regularize their position. Explaining the motives of the initiative, which comes at a time of particular tension between the two countries, mainly due to the Pyongyang missile program, spokeswoman Nauert said: "Due to growing concerns about the serious risk of arrest and long term detention under North Korea's forced labor system, the Secretary has authorized a Geographical Travel Restriction to all US citizens to use a passport to travel through or travel to North Korea. "

At times of great tension, Kim Jong-Un's regime often uses the arrests of US or South Korean citizens as a diplomatic levers (or blackmail) to obtain concessions or reductions in tension with the countries of origin of the arrested. Three other US citizens are in Pyongyang Prison: Kim Dong-chul, 62, sentenced to 10 years of forced labor; Kim Sang-duk, detained since last April; Kim Hak-song, arrested in May last year.