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Is it illegal for US citizens to travel to North Korea?

It may currently be impossible and probably a very bad idea, but is it actually illegal?

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Neil Meyer
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    Illegal from the US side but not from the North Korean side (at least before the pandemic when borders were closed to all tourists and travelers). –  Jul 18 '23 at 07:36
  • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-66233797 US national detained on North Korea on today. – Rohith K D Jul 18 '23 at 12:28
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    Not an answer since he's not a US citizen, but back in 2015, a Kenyan man accidentally flew to North Korea (via Beijing, China). He was fined 500 USD for entering the country without a visa, but ultimately allowed to go back to Beijing and get on his intended flight to South Korea. – dan04 Jul 18 '23 at 18:47
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    @dan04 It's is easy to understand: he confused the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with the Republic of Korea. – Simon Crase Jul 19 '23 at 02:48
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    Do we really need to hyperlink to the Wikipedia page on the US? Are there people on English-language sites that don't know what the US is? – Azor Ahai -him- Jul 19 '23 at 03:16
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    @AzorAhai-him- I assume the link was probably added to make the edit substantial enough to be submitted (minimum character requirement). The part of the edit that was needed was changing "us" to "US" – Martin Smith Jul 19 '23 at 07:29

1 Answers1

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Short Answer

Is it illegal for US citizens to travel to North Korea?

Yes (but see the "fine print" below).

Long Answer

There is:

a US travel ban to North Korea for American citizens, as of July 2017.

Now, Americans wishing to travel to North Korea must obtain a Special Validation Passport from the US Department of State, only issued under very specific circumstances, such as for journalists covering the region or for humanitarian aid workers.

The Biden administration extended the ban, initially established by the Trump administration, on traveling to North Korea on a U.S. passport absent special approval:

The ban makes it illegal to use a U.S. passport for travel to, from or through North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or the DPRK, unless the document has been specially validated. Such validations are granted by the State Department only in the case of compelling national interest.

The U.S. State Department confirms that this ban is still in place. It states that:

Travel to, in, or through North Korea on a U.S. passport without this special validation may justify revocation of your passport for misuse under 22 C.F.R. § 51.62(a)(3) and may subject you to felony prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1544 or other applicable laws.

The maximum criminal penalty if you use a U.S. passport to go to North Korea and then return and a charged with a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1544 are quite serious. You could be sent to prison for up to ten years for a first or second offense, or up to fifteen years if you have two prior convictions under this statute, and/or fined, even if you weren't a terrorist or drug dealer, although the actual sentence would probably be milder, if you were charged with a crime at all.

The criminal statute reads as follows (with the pertinent parts in bold):

Whoever willfully and knowingly uses, or attempts to use, any passport issued or designed for the use of another; or

Whoever willfully and knowingly uses or attempts to use any passport in violation of the conditions or restrictions therein contained, or of the rules prescribed pursuant to the laws regulating the issuance of passports; or

Whoever willfully and knowingly furnishes, disposes of, or delivers a passport to any person, for use by another than the person for whose use it was originally issued and designed—

Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 25 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of this title)), 20 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate a drug trafficking crime (as defined in section 929(a) of this title)), 10 years (in the case of the first or second such offense, if the offense was not committed to facilitate such an act of international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime), or 15 years (in the case of any other offense), or both.

There are also many other North Korean sanctions (and keep in mind that North Korea is legally an "enemy" of the United States with which the U.S. is officially still at war and does not have diplomatic relations). The most recent of those, from 2017, prohibits ships and aircraft owned by a "foreign person" which have been in North Korean in the last 180 days from entering the United States.

The ban does not prohibit a dual citizen from traveling to North Korea on a passport from the person's other country of citizenship, nor does it prohibit U.S. citizens from entering North Korea without using a passport (although entering North Korea without a passport or visa probably violates North Korean law).

Of course, North Korea also regulates entry of people into North Korea under North Korean immigration laws. I do not know whether or not it is legal under North Korean law for people to enter it with a U.S. passport. But, given that the only U.S. citizen to enter North Korea without a special U.S. visa authorizing the trip in the last seven years was arrested immediately after crossing into North Korea this week, it would appear that this is illegal under North Korean law as well.

ohwilleke
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  • Strictly speaking "is it illegal" and "will you be arrested" are very different things.

    For very common crimes the consequences are fairly predictable, but for rare things like "I went to North Korea for tourism purposes," I suspect it would be handled on a case-by-case basis. But I would assume those consequences would involve lengthy conversations with employees of at least one government.

     – Richard Rast Jul 18 '23 at 14:04
  • @NeilMeyer Ban means "illegal" but doesn't specify what the penalty for doing so would be. As a practical matter, there are no flights or passenger ships that go from the U.S. to North Korea (in part, because of the ban), walking across the DMZ from South Korea is illegal (and gets you arrested in North Korea), and walking across the Chinese border with North Korea is similarly problematic. I haven't yet located the executive order and authorizing statute to determine what the precise legal consequences are of violating the ban. – ohwilleke Jul 18 '23 at 14:04
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    "a US travel ban to North Korea for American citizens" That is not supported by any official source. The ban actually bans the use of a US passport to travel to North Korea. If a US citizen uses a non-US passport or non-passport travel document to travel to North Korea, I am not aware of any regulation against that. – user102008 Jul 18 '23 at 14:50
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    @user102008 The short answer slightly oversimplifies which is clarified later in the answer. – ohwilleke Jul 18 '23 at 15:17
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    @Barmar Air Koryo flies between Beijing and Pyongyang. The question boils down to how to get in Beijing (rarely an issue) and how you convince an official or the crew to let you on board. One way to do that, is get invited. And NK definitely invites people all the time. Source: been there (Pyongyang) with US citizens before the ban of '17. – Mast Jul 18 '23 at 16:45
  • 'North Korea is legally an "enemy" of the United States with which the U.S. is officially still at war' -- I don't think there's ever been any such declaration, from either side. – Indigenuity Jul 18 '23 at 16:45
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    "given that the only U.S. citizen to enter North Korea without a special U.S. visa [...] was arrested immediately [...] it would appear that this is illegal under North Korean law as well" - That's not my reading of the BBC story. It looks to me like he ran into NK from the DMZ without going through border control at all (and saying "ha ha ha"), so of course they would arrest him. – benrg Jul 18 '23 at 16:56
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    @Indigenuity The authorization for the use of force in the Korean War has never been rescinded. Actually calling it a "Declaration of War" is unimportant. "Enemy status" authorizes actions under war powers that would otherwise not be allowed. – ohwilleke Jul 18 '23 at 19:31
  • @benrg Could be. I was answering from incomplete information that has been updated since then and I haven't followed the story closely. Apparently, this was a defecting, rather deranged, U.S. soldier. – ohwilleke Jul 18 '23 at 19:32
  • The first quote in this answer states that there is a ban "on American citizens", and that Americans traveling to North Korea "must obtain" a special validation passport, both without any qualifications, which makes it wrong. I think that that quote should be removed, especially since it's the first thing people read in this answer, before any of your later statements about being able to use a different passport. – user102008 Jul 18 '23 at 19:38
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    @Mast-onstrike Typically you must look to be admissible to visit a foreign country before you can board an aircraft. The airlines are fined substantial amounts for allowing inadmissible passengers on (and have to remove them). In the case of someone traveling on a US passport to the DPRK that would take the form of a North Korean visa of some type, placed in their passport at some place that performs consular services. A Moldovan (say) passport holder would only require an e-visa. A few countries are visa-free (not including neighboring Russia, China or (obviously) South Korea). – Spehro Pefhany Jul 19 '23 at 02:27
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    As far as the DPRK letting people in, it's academic at the moment since the borders are apparently still closed from the pandemic (presumably with exemptions for cargo and other essential service folks). Rumors abound but there is not much solid info on re-opening. – Spehro Pefhany Jul 19 '23 at 02:32
  • Wow. I didn't know the government had the constitutional right to prevent citizens from going wherever they damn well please. (I know, I know, it doesn't -- it only regulates the use of passports. But that is like allowing abortion and then making it impossible to operate actual abortion clinics.) – Peter - Reinstate Monica Jul 19 '23 at 09:22
  • @Peter-ReinstateMonica If I were arguing for the legality of the statute, I would argue under the War Power. – ohwilleke Jul 19 '23 at 18:09
  • @ohwilleke I'm not sure I find it justified to forbid travel to an enemy nation/territory in war. Of course, treason is usually a crime, but not every trip is treason. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Jul 19 '23 at 18:32