{"id":42977,"date":"2017-08-28T05:45:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T05:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=42977"},"modified":"2017-08-28T05:45:21","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T05:45:21","slug":"last-americans-rush-to-north-korea-ahead-of-travel-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/politics\/last-americans-rush-to-north-korea-ahead-of-travel-ban.html","title":{"rendered":"Last Americans rush to North Korea ahead of travel ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Americans rush to North Korea ahead of travel ban<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Last Americans rush to North Korea ahead of travel ban:- A looming US travel ban has prompted some daring American globetrotters to fast-track their vacations to North Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning September 1, United States passports will be invalid for travel to the hermit kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

“With the upcoming travel ban I felt like it was now or never,” said Virginia resident Nicholas Burkhead, who lamented that he had run out of time to learn Korean before the travel ban.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Burkhead and others like him, the threat of arrest and imprisonment in the totalitarian state is seemingly not a deterrent, nor is the looming threat that Pyongyang could become the staging ground for a nuclear war.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the United States and South Korea conducted their annual joint military exercises on Friday, Pyongyang fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Two missiles flew successfully while a third exploded moments after launch.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US ban was issued a month after the mysterious death of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student from Ohio who was imprisoned for nearly a year and a half, and returned to his parents in a coma from which he never woke up.<\/span><\/p>\n

There may be exceptions to the ban, though, at the discretion of the State Department. Journalists are one example.<\/span><\/p>\n

“US passports will be invalid for travel to, through and in North Korea, and individuals will be required to obtain a passport with a special validation in order to travel to or within North Korea,” said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the recent tensions and missile launches, tourism to North Korea continues, though a recent flight was a little emptier than usual. There were eight Americans on board, among the last to be allowed in under tourist visas before the ban.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a pity for anyone curious to go, but especially for North Koreans who might want to know what American visitors are really like,” said Simon Cockerell, who was on the flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cockerell is the general manager of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which specializes in helping tourists get to North Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Cockerell’s 165th trip to the reclusive country.<\/span><\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, everybody is exactly the same,” said Washington, DC, resident Ali Karim.<\/span><\/p>\n

Karim, a former doctor traveling the world with a message of unity, said he moved up his trip to North Korea by several months to beat the ban.<\/span><\/p>\n

The State Department does not track the number of American travelers to North Korea, but tour operators have estimated that it is about a few hundred each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2017\/08\/26\/asia\/americans-north-korea\/index.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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