US to ban Americans from traveling to North Korea

WASHINGTON, DC – (Matthew Lee, Associated Press.  Please click on the link above for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

U.S. officials say the Trump administration will ban American citizens from traveling to North Korea following the death of university student Otto Warmbier who passed away after falling into a coma into a North Korean prison.

The officials said Friday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had decided to impose “geographic travel restriction” for North Korea, which would make the use of U.S. passports to enter the country illegal. They said the restriction would go into effect 30 days after a notice is published in the Federal Register, but it was not immediately clear when that would be. There was no announcement in Friday’s editions of the government publication. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the decision before it is announced and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Two tour operators that organize group trips to North Korea said they had already been informed of the decision.