US again warns against travel to NKorea after new detentions

WASHINGTON – The State Department is strongly warning U.S. citizens against travelling to North Korea after the reported recent detention of two Korean-Americans who had taught at a university there.

Despite long-standing animosity between Washington and Pyongyang, and the lack of diplomatic relations, Americans are still free to travel there.

The travel warning issued Tuesday updates long-standing advice that Americans “are at serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement.”

It says that North Korea threatens to treat American detainees in accordance with the nation’s “wartime law.”

Four U.S. citizens are currently thought to be in custody in North Korea. The two latest detainees had both taught at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.