Biden should end North Korea travel ban, humanitarian and advocacy groups say – By Michelle Lee (Washington Post) / Aug 25 2021
TOKYO —Until a few years ago, Americans traveled to North Korea for a host of reasons. Korean Americans reunited with loved ones from whom they were separated during the Korean War. Medical groups treated patients and trained doctors. Cultural exchange programs sought to introduce sports and entertainment, such as surfing and the New York Philharmonic.
But those trips ended in 2017, when the Trump administration imposed a travel ban after the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who traveled to the totalitarian country and was arrested and detained on charges of stealing a propaganda poster. He died days after being flown home in a coma.
Now, humanitarian groups and other advocates are urging the Biden administration to end the travel ban, which is set to expire on Sept. 1 after being renewed every year since it took effect.
[North Korea began the summer in a food crisis. A heat wave and drought could make it worse.]
Last week, peace activists, humanitarian and nongovernment organizations, and Korean American groups representing separated families met with administration officials to make their case. They argued that ending the ban would allow families to reunite with their aging loved ones, bring medical and humanitarian aid to those who need it the most, and help ordinary North Koreans and Americans to learn more about one another beyond what’s reported in the news.
