As U.S. ban on travel to North Korea
kicks in, tourists say their farewells
Send a link to a friend
[August 31, 2017]
By Christian Shepherd
BEIJING (Reuters) - American tourist
Nicholas Burkhead said he'd be happy to return to his latest holiday
destination, with its beautiful scenery, great food and friendly people.
The problem is, the destination was North Korea and a U.S. State
Department ban on travel to the isolated country takes effect on Friday.
Burkhead, a 35-year-old from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was among the last
American tourists to leave North Korea, landing on Thursday in Beijing.
"I was surprised at how friendly everyone was," Burkhead said after
stepping off the last scheduled flight to Beijing from the North Korean
capital, Pyongyang, before the U.S. travel ban kicks in.
"It was very relaxing - beautiful scenery and they fed us very well in
the restaurants there, but the exchange rate wasn't too good for the
local won," he told a waiting scrum of reporters.
Burkhead arrived in Beijing on North Korea's state-owned Air Koryo after
visiting Pyongyang as well as the city of Kaesong near the heavily armed
border with South Korea. His five-day tour cost 1,850 euros ($2,200).
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Aug/31/images/ads/current/topflight_west_sda_101414.png)
Other Americans on the flight included two aid workers as well as Jamie
Banfill, 32, who had led tours to North Korea but was visiting this time
as a tourist.
Banfill, who had made the trip to say goodbyes after regularly traveling
to the North for a decade, said the travel ban short-sighted.
"It's an extremely complex situation on the Korean peninsula and they
oversimplified it," he said.
The United States last month announced a ban on U.S. passport holders
from traveling to North Korea, effective Sept. 1. Journalists and
humanitarian workers are allowed to apply for exemptions under the ban,
which is similar to previous U.S. restrictions on travel to Iraq and
Libya.
Heidi Linton, director of Christian Friends of Korea, who has been
working in North Korea for more than 20 years, told reporters she
worried about the people her aid group helped, if her exemption was not
granted soon.
"We started a hepatitis B program and we have 705 patients that have
been started on life-saving medicine, that if they go off that medicine
then their lives are in danger," she said.
It was not immediately clear how many Americans had sought, or been
granted, exemptions or how many were still in North Korea. An official
at the state department said it was not able to give an estimate on the
number of U.S. citizens there.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/083117pics/news_g13.jpg)
U.S. tourist Nicholas Burkhead speaks to the media after he arrived
from Pyongyang at the airport in Beijing, China August 31, 2017.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_080217.png)
PRESSURE GROWS
North Korea is under growing international pressure over its nuclear
tests and repeated ballistic missile launches, including one this
week that flew over northern Japan.
The U.S. ban on travel to North Korea followed the death of U.S.
college student Otto Warmbier, who was jailed during a tour last
year.
Warmbier, who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for trying to
steal a propaganda sign, was returned to the United States in a coma
in June and died six days later. The circumstances surrounding his
death are not clear, including why he fell into a coma.
Warmbier had been detained leaving the airport in Pyongyang.
"I was expecting a strict security check on exit but there was
nothing like that," Burkhead said.
The State Department declared U.S. passports invalid for travel to,
in or through North Korea. The restriction applies for one year
unless extended or revoked by the secretary of state.
North Korean state media has described the ban as a "sordid" attempt
to limit human exchanges.
North Korea is currently holding two Korean-American academics and a
missionary, as well as three South Korean nationals who were doing
missionary work.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Aug/31/images/ads/current/graue_sda_2016.png)
This month, North Korea released a Canadian pastor who had been
imprisoned there for more than two years.
Hundreds of Americans are among the 4,000 to 5,000 Western tourists
who visit North Korea annually, according to U.S. lawmaker Joe
Wilson.
(Additional reporting by James Pearson in SEOUL and David Brunnstrom
in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |