U.S. to ban citizens' trip to N. Korea: tour agency

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- A tour agency which has arranged tour programs to North Korea said Friday that the United States will ban its citizens from traveling to the North soon following the death of an American detainee in the repressive regime.

"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)," Young Pioneer Tours said on its website. "It is expected that the ban will come into force within 30 days of July 27th."

It said that after a 30-day grace period, any U.S. national who travels to North Korea will have their passport invalidated by the U.S.

The agency is the one that brought Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student, to North Korea in 2016. After 17 months in detention, he was released in a coma in June and died days after his medical evacuation to the U.S.

Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for what North Korea called a subversive act of stealing a propaganda sign.

His death has sparked angry reactions from the U.S., highlighting Pyongyang's treatment of detainees and its human rights violations.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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