Americans hoping to visit North Korea will have to obtain a special passport validation that will only be granted under “very limited circumstances,” according to the State Department.
Normal U.S. passports will be invalid for travel into or through the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from Sept. 1 onward, the State Department announced in a statement posted on its website.
Details surrounding how to apply for a passport with special one-time validation are still forthcoming as the White House’s Office of Management and Budget needs to approve the process.
“Since OMB issues the approval, the Department cannot provide any further information as to timing,” the statement read.
The changes follow escalating tensions between the U.S. and the DPRK, with North Korea testing intercontinental ballistic missiles which experts fear are capable of reaching U.S. targets.
The State Department is also becoming increasingly concerned about the risk of arrest and long-term detention under the DPRK’s legal system, which ensnared American student Otto Warmbier in January 2016. He died days after being returned to the U.S. in June, after mysteriously falling into a coma.
“The (geographic travel restriction) will be valid for one year with the ability for the Secretary of State to renew, if warranted,” the statement continued.
State Department guidance recommends that Americans currently in North Korea should leave before the travel restriction goes into effect.
