North Korea may be one of just two non-Muslim majority nations impacted by the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, but there is little concern that the decision could negatively impact ongoing efforts to engage Pyongyang in talks over its nuclear program.
According to the State Department, the decision will have little impact on a practical level, because North Korean travel to the United States was already severely limited before this ruling.
And despite the ban’s restrictions, a House Foreign Affairs Committee aide noted that North Korean officials could still be allowed to travel to the US on a case by case basis if they are granted a waiver similar to the one that allowed one of Kim’s top advisers to visit the White House earlier this month.
Democrats seem to agree with that assessment.
«I don’t know that the SCOTUS ruling has a whole lot of effect on talks with North Korea,» a Democratic congressional aide told CNN, adding that there has only been one North Korean official to come to the US in recent months and that the ban includes fairly broad waivers for the President to exercise.
Quick changes
«I’m not sure how much I would read into it,» the aide said, despite admitting that the timing is «bizarre,» given it comes just weeks after Trump’s summit with Kim. «North Korea may choose to respond, but the travel ban has been in the works for a while,» the aide noted.
