Donald Trump signs new travel ban targeting eight countries including North Korea

Donald Trump has signed a new travel ban affecting
eight countries.
The United States will prohibit all citizens of North
Korea from entering the country.
It also slaps restrictions on Iran, Chad, Libya, Syria,
Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia,.
The new restrictions, which will go into effect on
October 18, resulted from a review after President
Donald Trump's original travel bans were challenged
in court.
The addition of North Korea and Venezuela broadens
the restrictions from the original, mostly Muslim-
majority list.
"North Korea does not cooperate with the United
States government in any respect and fails to satisfy
all information-sharing requirements," the
proclamation said.
An administration official, briefing reporters on a
conference call, acknowledged that the number of
North Koreans traveling to the United States now was
very low.
The measures help fulfill a campaign promise Trump
made to tighten U.S. immigration procedures and
align with his "America First" foreign policy vision.
Unlike the president's original bans, which had time
limits, this one is open-ended.
"Making America Safe is my number one priority. We
will not admit those into our country we cannot safely
vet," the president said in a tweet shortly after the
proclamation was released.
Iraqi citizens will not be subject to travel prohibitions
but will face enhanced scrutiny or vetting.
The current ban, enacted in March, was set to expire
on Sunday evening.
The new restrictions are slated to take effect on
October 18 and resulted from a review after Trump's
original travel bans sparked international outrage and
legal challenges.
Rights group Amnesty International USA condemned
the measures.
"Just because the original ban was especially
outrageous does not mean we should stand for yet
another version of government-sanctioned
discrimination," it said in a statement.
"It is senseless and cruel to ban whole nationalities of
people who are often fleeing the very same violence
that the U.S. government wishes to keep out.
"This must not be normalised.''
The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement
the addition of North Korea and Venezuela "doesn't
obfuscate the real fact that the administration's order
is still a Muslim ban."
The White House portrayed the restrictions as
consequences for countries that did not meet new
requirements for vetting of immigrants and issuing of
visas.
Those requirements were shared in July with foreign
governments, which had 50 days to make
improvements if needed, the White House said.
A number of countries made improvements by
enhancing the security of travel documents or the
reporting of passports that were lost or stolen.
Others did not, sparking the restrictions.
The announcement came as the U.S. Supreme Court
prepares to hear oral arguments on October 10 over
the legality of Trump's previous travel ban, including
whether it discriminated against Muslims.

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