“The State Department strongly urges USA citizens to avoid all travel to North Korea due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement, which imposes unduly harsh sentences, including for actions that in the United States would not be considered crimes”, the warning reads.
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“The State Department strongly urges USA citizens to avoid all travel to North Korea due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement, which imposes unduly harsh sentences, including for actions that in the United States would not be considered crimes”, according to a statement yesterday.
North Korean state media has not announced Ri’s appointment but North Korea’s embassy in Britain informed the British Foreign Office of his appointment in a note dated May 16, and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Ri’s appointment probably won’t ease the nuclear standoff anytime soon.
Ri had served as the North’s top negotiator in past nuclear disarmament talks and participated in rounds of talks with the USA in the 1990s.
“If you decide to enter North Korea against the advice of this Travel Warning, you should have no expectation of privacy”, the latest Travel Warning stated.
In 2011, he met South Korea’s top nuclear envoy in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of a regional security conference and agreed to work toward a resumption of the nuclear talks.
North Korea’s diplomatic letter did not say what happened to the departing foreign minister, Ri Su Yong.
Outgoing foreign minister Ri, 76, a well-travelled career diplomat, was named a member of the politburo during a recent congress of the ruling Workers’ Party.
With a wealth of experience handling important jobs and participating in crucial talks with the United States and other nations, Ri Yong Ho is likely to be a more skilled negotiator than his predecessor, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
Last month North Korea sentenced a detained Korean-American, Kim Dong-Chul, to 10 years’ hard labour on charges of subversion and espionage, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.
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Ri Yong Ho, 59, replaces Ri Su Yong, who has been one of the highest-profile officials of a country whose current leader, Kim Jong Un, has not travelled overseas since taking power following the death of his father in 2011.
