Traveling to Dangerous Areas Might Incur Penalties or Passport Invalidation

The government has issued a travel warning to dangerous areas. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Gi-moon and Minister of National Defense Yoon Gwang-ung issued a statement that urged Korean citizens not to travel to dangerous areas such as Iraq, and to return home immediately or to relocate to safe neighboring countries from these hazardous nations.

“Some NGO or missionary members still are staying or are planning to travel to dangerous regions. No one is secure in Iraq, and no one can be sure there will never be another tragedy,” said the statement issued by the two ministers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade decided to consider giving penalties or invalidating passports for those who fail to comply with the government’s warning notice.

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com