After Otto Warmbier's death, top senators say U.S. should consider banning North Korea travel

WASHINGTON — In the wake of Otto Warmbier’s death, the Trump administration and top lawmakers in Congress said Tuesday that they were considering dramatic new restrictions on Americans' ability to travel to North Korea.

Republicans and Democrats alike said Tuesday that banning tourist visits to North Korea could be an effective response to Warmbier's 17-month detention and death. It would deprive that repressive regime of desperately needed revenue, they argued, and prevent the North Korean government from using American citizens as leverage in its high-stakes diplomatic standoff with the U.S.

“It’s time that we look at the whole policy of U.S. citizens” traveling to North Korea, said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“It puts us in a very precarious situation,” Corker said. “We’re constantly having to get people out of the country. I think it's something we should seriously look at because it affects our national security (and) it certainly endangers their lives.”

Even before the world learned that Warmbier had fallen into a coma while imprisoned in North Korea, Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Joe Wilson, R-S.C., introduced legislation that would require Americans to get a license from the Treasury Department to travel to the repressive dictatorship — and no licenses could be issued for tourists to visit the country.

In a statement on Tuesday, Schiff said tourism “helps to fund one of the most brutal and despotic regimes in the world.” He said banning American tourists from visiting North Korea would make international sanctions all the more effective. It would also deprive the North Koreans of their ability to use detained Americans as pawns.  

“The barbaric treatment of Otto Warmbier by the North Korean regime amounts to the murder of a U.S. citizen," Schiff said.

Wilson, in an op-ed published Tuesday, echoed that argument and said tourism dollars have become "an ever-growing and reliable source of income for the dictatorship."

Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said the Trump administration was already considering a move to restrict travel to North Korea. 

"We’re contemplating that right now," she said, adding that Tillerson currently has the authority to ban tourist travel without congressional action. "He just has not come to a conclusion about how this would potentially work," she said.

Asked whether the Trump administration was considering taking Warmbier's case to an international court to seek murder charges, Nauert said: "I’m not aware of that at this point." But she noted that Warmbier just died on Monday, and the State Department is still considering how to respond. 

Warmbier went to North Korea with an organized tour group. He was detained as the group prepared to leave the country. The North Koreans charged him with hostile acts against the government for allegedly trying to steal a political banner. 

Warmbier was sentenced in a sham trial to 15 years of hard labor and imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months. The 22-year-old was released last week after U.S. officials learned he had been in a coma for more than a year.

In response to Warmbier's death, top lawmakers have accused the North Korean regime of murder. But the U.S. has limited options to retaliate against that country, which is already diplomatically isolated and heavily sanctioned. 

With few points of leverage, the idea of a travel ban seemed to be gaining steam Tuesday, even as some lawmakers suggested they would not act quickly on that front. 

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, said that committee would be holding a closed-door briefing later this week on North Korea and Warmbier's case was likely to be a focal point of that discussion. Asked about a possible travel ban, Cardin said it should be on the table. 

"I don’t think we can protect the safety of Americans in North Korea, so I understand why there would be restrictions,” Cardin said. "I think we have to take necessary precautions to protect Americans.”

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Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said the State Department should first try ratcheting up its warnings to Americans about the dangers of traveling to North Korea. He said "any American that’s not nuts" wouldn't want to go there after seeing what happened to Warmbier.

“Tell all Americans if they go there, their lives are in danger and if necessary (put) a ban on it,” McCain said. “It’s not too complicated.”

The lawmakers' response came as President Trump doubled down on his criticism of the North Korean regime and suggested that Warmbier’s fate may have been different if he had been returned earlier.

"It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto,” Trump said. “It should never, ever be allowed to happen. And frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different.”

Trump added that Warmbier “should have (been) brought home that same day … I spoke with his family. His family is incredible ... but he should have been brought home a long time ago.”

Obama's former National Security Council spokesman, Ned Price, defended the previous president's efforts to get Warmbier back home. He said the Obama administration secured the release of at least 10 Americans during his eight years in office. 

"It's painful that Mr. Warmbier was not among them, but our efforts on his behalf never ceased, even in the waning days of the administration," Price said. 

Trump also seemed to point a finger at the Chinese government. In a tweet, Trump said their efforts to pressure North Korea had "not worked out," while adding "at least I know China tried."

The U.S. flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force, according to the Associated Press. Seoul’s Defense Ministry told the AP that the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The U.S. military said the bombers conducted two separate drills and the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States “to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater,” the AP reported.

Aside from such military exercises, it’s not clear what else the Trump administration can do to retaliate against North Korea for Warmbier’s imprisonment and death.

“We’re limited,” said Corker, adding that China is the only country that has real leverage over the North Korean government.

In the meantime, Americans who travel to North Korea put the U.S. “in a very difficult situation,” Corker said.

“We end up in a very difficult situation when Americans go visiting and end up in these trumped up charges. We expend tremendous amounts of resources and time to try to free them, as we should,” Corker said. That's why lawmakers should look at enacting a travel ban, he said.

Contributing: David Jackson and the Associated Press