U.S. lawmaker calls on State Dept. to revise policy on North Korea travel ban

A U.S. lawmaker has called on the U.S. State Department to revise its policy banning U.S. citizens from traveling to North Korea, noting that many Korean Americans with aging relatives in the North hope to have family reunions in the reclusive state.

California Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman made the call in a statement released Thursday, after the department extended its ban on travel to North Korea for another year, until Aug. 31 next year, citing "serious" risks to U.S. citizens of arrest and long-term detention in the North.

"To the dismay of many Korean Americans, Secretary [Marco] Rubio recently renewed the ban on U.S. citizen travel to North Korea for the 10th consecutive year. About 100,000 Korean Americans still hope to have family reunification meetings with aging relatives in North Korea, and the ban makes it impossible for them to do so," he said.

"It is time for the State Department to revise its policy so that Korean Americans can have the opportunity to attend funerals or burials in North Korea and to heal the wounds of yearslong separations."

Under the ban, all U.S. passports are declared invalid for travel to, in or through North Korea unless specially validated for such travel.

In 2017, the United States implemented the travel restriction on North Korea. It has since been extended annually.

Yonhap