US bars citizens from traveling to North Korea for 6th straight year | NK News
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September 27, 2026Sep 27, 2026

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US bars citizens from traveling to North Korea for 6th straight year

State Department cites ‘imminent danger’ of detention for extension, which travel expert says could remain indefinitely

U.S. citizens are banned from visiting North Korea for the sixth consecutive year, the State Department announced Tuesday, extending travel restrictions due to the “serious risk” of arrest and long-term detention.

The ban prohibits U.S. passport holders from traveling “to, in and through” North Korea until Aug. 21, 2023, according to a notice posted by the federal government. But the restrictions also allow for exemptions for journalists, humanitarian workers and others who travel “in the national interest.”

The U.S. first barred travel to the DPRK in 2017 after the deathof 22-year-old American citizen Otto Warmbier, who North Korea detained