According to this article, After Warmbier’s Death, US Weighs Travel Ban on North Korea President Trump is considering issuing at travel ban for American citizens after the death of Otto Warmbier. I guess the question is: Should the US government issue a travel ban for North Korea?
I say ‘no’.
1) I am not a fan of travel bans, in general. Part of being supposedly free includes being allowed to do dumb things.
2) We should allow our citizens to travel anywhere they want. Anywhere. Individual citizen travel, not opening businesses. But, issue warnings that if they do travel to certain countries, and something happens, we will make no effort whatsoever to help them. They’re on their own. (Realistically, with some countries, there’s nothing we can do, even if we want to.)
3) This idea to issue the travel ban is typical government post-tragedy impotent action. Despite all the rhetoric, there was nothing we could have done for Warmbier, and now that he has died, politicians feel the need to appear to be doing something about it. Since there’s nothing we can do directly, or that is actually meaningful, we’ll institute a travel ban and claim victory. This happens after almost all tragedies, regardless who is in power, and is not a partisan response.
According to the news last night, it is estimated that roughly 1,000 Americans visit North Korea every year. Just adding that for context.
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