Tell Pres. Trump to End the Travel Ban on North Korea!
President Donald J. Trump, cc: Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Since 2017, U.S. citizens have been prohibited from traveling to North Korea. The Trump administration enacted the ban after the death of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier. While his death was a tragedy, the travel restriction has caused more harm than good by preventing Korean Americans from visiting their family members, hindering humanitarian aid organizations from delivering critical assistance, and stopping civil society groups and individuals, including peace activists, from engaging in meaningful cultural and educational exchanges that foster trust and understanding and create important openings for diplomacy. Despite his campaign promise “to reunite Korean Americans separated from loved ones in North Korea for decades,” President Biden renewed the State Department’s travel ban on North Korea every year while in office.
Now the Trump administration has extended the travel ban until August 2026. While U.S. citizens can still use their passports to visit some countries with travel restrictions, such as Cuba and Iran, no U.S. passport is valid for travel to North Korea. Instead, U.S. citizens must apply for a totally separate “special validation passport.” The State Department has unfettered discretion as to whether it grants this passport, and does so only in exceedingly exceptional circumstances. This has prolonged the most heartbreaking legacy of the unresolved Korean War — more than seven decades of separated Korean families.
We call on President Trump to end this cruel policy and to allow U.S. citizens to once again travel freely to North Korea!
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To: President Donald J. Trump, cc: Secretary of State Marco Rubio
From: [Your Name]
We, the undersigned, call on President Trump to end the travel ban prohibiting U.S. passport holders from traveling to North Korea.
Since 2017, this unnecessary and overly restrictive policy has prevented Korean Americans from returning to their hometowns and visiting their loved ones in North Korea, and time is running out for many of them. The travel ban has also hindered humanitarian workers from delivering urgently needed assistance, and many others from engaging in meaningful educational and cultural exchanges. These people-to-people exchanges are crucial to fostering trust and understanding between two nations technically at war for more than 70 years. Ending the travel ban would also be a good-faith action and signal that the United States wants to engage in diplomacy toward peace — which would benefit both Americans and Koreans.
We call on President Trump to end this cruel policy and to allow U.S. citizens to once again travel freely to North Korea!
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