US officials warns Americans in North Korea to get out

  • 03/08/2017
North Korea, Rex Tillerson
Rex Tillerson has advised fellow country-men to get out. Photo credit: File

US officials have warned American passports holders to get out of North Korea before a travel ban takes effect on September 1.

The US State Department has issued a statement advising that a travel ban with be put in place by the Trump administration to the rouge state as tensions between the two nuclear powerhouses intensifes.

"The Secretary has authorized the restriction due to the serious and mounting risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. citizens under North Korea's system of law enforcement," the statement read.

The ban will remain in effect for one year and is at the discretion of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has the power to revoke or extend the ban.

However it won't mean a complete ban on US passports holders, some will be able to apply for an exception to the ban including journalists and humanitarian workers.

The ban comes after US student Otto Warmbier travelled to North Korea in 2015.

Before he left the country he was accused of trying to steal a propaganda poster during his visit and was sentenced to 15 years hard labour.

After more than a year in North Korean detention, Mr Warmbier was released to US officials in June this year where it was found he was in a coma after supposedly contracting botulism.

Doctors who treated the 22-year-old back home said he had in fact suffered severe injuries to all areas of his brain which lead to his death on June 19.

Newshub.