The U.S. State Department on Monday issued the latest warning against traveling to North Korea, saying foreign visitors to the communist nation could end up behind bars for actions not considered crimes elsewhere.

"The State Department strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to North Korea due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement, which imposes unduly harsh sentences, including for actions that in the United States would not be considered crimes," the warning said.

"At least 14 U.S. citizens have been detained in the DPRK in the past ten years. North Korea has detained those who traveled independently and those who were part of organized tours," it said, referring to the North by its official name.

Visitors should have "no expectation of privacy" in the North, the warning said, adding that all electronic and multimedia devices including USB drives, CDs, DVDs, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, Internet browsing histories and cookies are subject to search for banned content.

"Possession of any media, either physical or electronic, criticizing the DPRK government or its leaders is considered a criminal act punishable by long-term detention in hard labor camps and heavy fines," it said.

The warning included examples of acts punished in the North, including showing disrespect to the country's former and current leaders, proselytizing or carrying out religious activities, having unauthorized interaction with the local population and taking unauthorized photographs.

"Numerous foreigners have been held in North Korea for extended periods of time without being formally charged with any crimes," it said. "Detained foreigners have been questioned daily for several weeks without the presence of counsel and have been compelled to make public statements and take part in public trials."

Two American citizens are currently held in North Korea, including university student Otto Warmbier, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a political propaganda sign, and Korean-American Kim Dong-chu,l convicted of trying to steal classified military information. 

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the department usually updates such travel warnings every six months, but the warning for North Korea will be updated every 90 days under the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 that was enacted earlier this year.

"I think that's reflective of the increased tensions that we're seeing there on the peninsula and certainly the manner in which the regime has acted out against foreigners on travel to North Korea," Kirby said "So we take our responsibilities very seriously to travelers so that we give them as much information as we can before they travel." (Yonhap)