The United States and Canada both strongly advise citizens not to travel to North Korea. North Korea will not negotiate with the United States over two American citizens it is holding until former detainee Kenneth Bae stops publicly talking about his time in prison, state media said on Monday. North Korea arrested Bae, a US missionary, in November 2012 and sentenced him to 15 years' hard labour for crimes against the state. Pyongyang is holding two US citizens, both of whom it has tried and sentenced to hard labour. Criticised over its human rights record for years, North Korea has made use of detained Americans in the past to extract high-profile visits from the United States, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations.

Source: The Star June 20, 2016 06:33 UTC